Writer: Jack Lothian
Starring: Evin Ahmad, Sean Teale, Douglas Henshall, Susannah Fielding, Indica Watson
Production Company: Left Bank Pictures
Kent Locations Used: Folkestone Harbour, Grand Burstin Hotel
Who Is Erin Carter? (2023) follows Erin Collantes, a British teacher living a quiet life in Spain. When she’s caught up in a supermarket robbery and the robbers seem to recognise her, her family realise there might be more to Erin than meets the eye.
Various scenes for Episode 1 of the series were filmed in Folkestone, including on the Harbour Arm, The Stade and the Grand Burstin Hotel.
Folkestone is a seaside town with elegant clifftop promenade, lower coastal park, fishing harbour and Victorian cliff-top lifts. Other productions who have filmed there recently include Pistol (2022), The Fight (2019) and Seagull (2018).
Who Is Erin Carter? (2023) will be released on Netflix on Thursday 24th August 2023.
Director: Danny Boyle Starring: Anson Boon, Jacob Slater, Toby Wallace, Christian Lees, Louis Partridge, Emma Appleton, Maisie Williams Production Company: FX Network Kent Locations Used: Dover, Folkestone, Sandgate, Deal
During filming, production visited Kent to film in Dover, Folkestone, Sandgate and Deal. The exterior of FOLCA (former Debenhams store) appears at the end of Episode 1, when Steve Jones suffers stagefright at his first gig. In Episode 4, The Grand in Folkestone doubles as the exterior of a Whitby Hotel, whilst the interior of The Grand Burstin Hotel appears as the Victorian ballroom in which the Pistols perform to a crowd of two people. Folkestone Railway Social Club also features in this episode, doubling as the exterior of a pub in Barnsley. Various roads around Folkestone were also filmed for driving scenes. Sunny Sands beach also features as Whitby Beach.
Filming in Sandgate village took place at Riviera Car Sales, which was dressed as the 1970s, Sandgate High Street and Undercliff. These locations can be spotted in Episode 4, as the band tour around the North of England.
In Dover, filming took place at Kings Hall and various nearby streets, as well as Dover seafront and Marine Parade. Marine Parade appears in the opening of Episode 2, as Jordan (Maisie Williams) cycles along the seafront in a see-through t-shirt, whilst the exterior of Kings Hall appears in Episode 4 as the Pistols leave a gig in Doncaster and a huge fight breaks out. Nearby, The Citadel was filmed as a stand in for HM Remand Centre in Ashford, where Steve Jones is imprisoned in Episode 1, and as HMP Chelmsford in Episode 3, where the Pistols perform to a crowd of prisoners.
In Deal the beach and Channel View B&B were used for various scenes in Episode 4. The exterior of the Royal Amusement Arcade appears in the final shot of the series, as the Pistols perform a Christmas gig at Ivanhoes in Huddersfield. A variety of other street scenes were shot in Deal, but unfortunately these didn’t make the final cut!
Sandgate village is in the Folkestone & Hythe district of Kent and features Martello towers, various boating clubs, antiques shops and a lift platform office that used to run in the Victorian times up Sandgate Hill to The Leas.
Dover is a popular filming location which also boasts the historic Dover Castle and the famous White Cliffs of Dover. Dover has featured in After Love (2021), The Rook – Series 1 (2019) and Missing (2009-2010). The Citadel, located on Dover’s Western Heights was constructed in the late 1700’s as a port of defence during the Napoleonic war. Most recently it has been used as a borstal, prison, and immigration detention centre up until its closure in 2015. It is now becoming popular as a filming location and has welcomed several productions over the past year, including Whitstable Pearl (2021) and various others soon to broadcast.
The coastal town of Deal has a long naval history and is one of the major cinque ports along the south coast. The Pier is a significant local landmark and public amenity offering excellent views of the town. It is internationally recognised as an angling venue.
East Kent is home to spectacular coastal landscapes and historic towns and boasts excellent transport links to London and Western Europe. East Kent has been used for filming several recent hit TV productions such as Baptiste (2019), Next of Kin (2018) and The Tunnel: Vengeance (2017).
Pistol was released on Disney+ on Tuesday 31st May 2022.
Writers: James Abbott, Peter Blach Director: Peter Blach Starring: Gabrielle Sheppard, Adam Radcliffe and Jessica Hynes Production Company: Seagull The Movie Ltd Kent Locations Used: Folkestone
Seagull (2019) is a British thriller about a young woman, Rose (Gabrielle Sheppard), who has been missing for eight years. She returns to her hometown having some unfinished business to take care of. The mystery of her disappearance haunt her disabled and alcoholic mother, Janet (Jessica Hynes) and partner Jeff (Adam Radcliffe), as well as eight year old Lily.
This psychological thriller is set in the Kentish town of Folkestone.
Writer: Daisy Haggard and Laura Solon Director: Christopher Sweeney Starring: Daisy Haggard, Geraldine James, Jamie Michie, and Christine Bottomley Production Company: BBC Studios Kent locations used: Dungeness, Abbot’s Cliff in Dover, Folkstone Harbour Arm, Hythe, Lydd-on-Sea
BBC3 comedy drama Back to Life (2019-) follows Miranda ‘Miri’ Matteson (Daisy HaggardBreeders Series 2 (2021), Hilda) who has just been released from prison, having spent a decade behind bars. In Series One she is desperate to go straight and move on with her life.
In Series Two Miri starts a relationship with her neighbour Billy (Adeel Akhtar (Victoria and Abdul (2017)), but all is not plain sailing as a body is washed up on the beach and she becomes the prime suspect.
The series is set in in the small seaside town of Hythe, and filming for both series took place along the seafront, including various scenes at the beach promenade on West Parade, and a cycling sequence on the promenade at Princes Parade. In Series 2, Hythe High Street is pictured in various scenes, including Caroline (Geraldine James) and Oscar’s (Richard Durden) litter-picking crusade and when Lara’s father John (Adrian Edmondson) leads a procession of mourners through the town.
Writer: Jessica Hynes Director: Jessica Hynes Starring: Jessica Hynes, Shaun Parkes, Christopher Fairbanks, Anita Dobson, and Russel Brand. Production Company: Dignity Film Finance and Unstoppable Entertainment Kent Locations Used: Folkestone
BAFTA-winning actress Jessica Hynes has wrapped her new feature film The Fight. Best known for her talent as both writer (Up the Women) and performer (W1A, The Royle Family), her directorial debut first screened at the London Film Festival on 17th October 2018.
The Fight tells the story of mother of three, care worker and amateur boxer, Tina (Jessica Hynes), whose life in a quiet seaside town is anything but –Tina and husband Mick (Shaun Parkes) are juggling full time jobs and childcare, her daughter Emma is being bullied and Tina’s mother Gene (Anita Dobson) is threatening to leave her father Frank (Christopher Fairbank). Determined to come to terms with her pent-up anger, Tina puts on her fighting gloves by quite literally stepping into the boxing ring.
Starring: Matthew Allwright Production Company: TwoFour Kent Location Used: Various properties around Thanet and Folkestone
This five-part series focuses on Britain’s housing crisis as every day 140 new families become homeless, whilst over 2000,000 domestic properties lie empty. Each episode features four to five stories, concentrating on an empty house at some point in its journey to be but back into use as a home. Presenter Matt Allwright wants to expose the empty housing scandal. He also may occasionally have to investigate to track down lost owners or property agents, as he travels around the UK scoping empty houses and pairing them with people who desperately need a home.
The first episode of The Empty Housing Scandal aired on Monday 11th February 2019 at 9.15am on BBC One. It will air each day this week till Friday 15th February 2019.
James’ culinary tour also takes him to the county of Kent, where he meets up with local chef and restaurateur Mark Sargeant, owner of the Rocksalt. The series also sees further cooking taking place with James cooking two recipes at Folkestone’s Harbour Arm . Folkestone is a popular filming location, some examples include Come Dine With Me (2012) and The Hotel Inspector (2018).
Starring: Michael Portillo Production Company: Fremantle Media Ltd. Kent Locations Used: Gravesend, Dartford and Folkestone
BBC documentary series Great British Railway Journeys (2010-) which first premiered on BBC Two in 2010, returns for its tenth series. Presenter Michael Portillo (Great Continental Railway Journeys) travels around the railway networks of Great Britain. He does this whilst referring to an 1840’s copy of Bradshaw’s Guide, comparing how various destinations have transformed since Victorian times.
For the new series, production filmed at railways in various Kent locations, such as Gravesend, Dartford and Folkestone.
Dartford is a historic town situated close to London and home to one of Europe’s largest shopping centres. Previous productions which filmed here include Who Do You Think You Are? (2014).
The new series of Great British Railway Journeys began airing on Monday 4th February 2019 at 6.30pm on BBC Two, and the Kent episode then aired on Wednesday 13th February 2019.
On 11 November 2018, communities will gather on beaches across the UK to say thank you and goodbye to the millions of men and women who left our shores during WWI. In Pages of the Sea, film-maker Danny Boyle invites you to join him in marking the 100 years anniversary of Armistice and the end of the war.
Director of the London Olympics Opening Ceremony, Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire 2008, Shallow Grave 1994) announced his new project from the Sunny Sands in Folkestone, where approximately 10 million men and women departed during the First World War, many never to return. The event will take place between dawn and 10.45am on November 11th 2018 and the public are invited to gather on beaches across the UK for an informal nationwide gesture of remembrance.
Speaking to Kent Online, Danny Boyle said, “You can stand here on the beach in Folkestone and imagine what they were all feeling and imagining as they were getting ready to leave and thinking about what they were facing.”
Various events will be taking place on the beach. A portrait of Wilfred Owen will emerge from the sands, and as the tide rises, it will be washed away, and a moment will be taken to say a collective goodbye. Carol Ann Duffy has written a poem especially for the moment – The Wound in Time. The public is also invited to explore an online gallery of portraits of some of the men and women who served in the First World War.
The event will be filmed live on Sunday 11th November at 10.45am.
Director: Tom Weston Starring: Alex Polizzi Production Company: Twofour (Channel 5) Kent Locations Used: Folkestone
Alex Polizzi comes to Folkestone in her quest to improve some of Britain’s hotels and B+B’s.
The long running series is presented by hotelier Alex Polizzi (Restaurant Rescue), and in this episode, Polizzi visits Westward Ho! hotel and its owner in Folkestone to offer her sound business advice.
