Future Tense: The Story of H.G. Wells (2016)

Time machine at The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Time machine at The Historic Dockyard Chatham © BBC South East

Production Company: BBC South East

Kent Locations Used: Sandgate, Folkestone, The Historic Dockyard Chatham, St Clere Estate, Sevenoaks

To mark H.G. Wells’ 150th birthday, Future Tense: The Story of H.G. Wells, presented by Dominic Sandbrook, discovers how a sleepy corner of the country inspired some of the most fantastic ideas in science fiction.

The BBC South East production team filmed at Sandgate beach and Wells House in Folkestone, The Historic Dockyard Chatham which is doubles as The Time Machine Workshop and St Clere Estate in Sevenoaks. They also filmed in East Sussex, Surrey and London.

Folkestone is a seaside town with an elegant clifftop promenade, a lower coastal park, a fishing harbour and Victorian cliff-top lifts. The area has featured in a wide range of productions including The Tunnel: Sabotage (2016), Lifeline (2012) and Is Anybody There? (2009).

The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a 17th century dockyard set over 80 acres, containing over 100 buildings dating from the Georgian and Victorian Periods. It has been used extensively for filming, appearing in productions such as Rustom (2016), Partners in Crime (2015) and The World is Not Enough (1999).

Set across 2,800 acres of the rolling Kent countryside, St Clere Estate offers stunning views of the North Downs. The house itself was built in 1630 and has some fine architectural examples of the Caroline era. St Clere Estate has been previously featured on screen in Road Games (2016) and The Mirror Crack’d (1980).

Future Tense: The Story of H.G. Wells will air on Friday 16th September 2016 at 19.30 on BBC One South East can be found wherever you are in the country: Sky Channel 963, FreeSat 959, Freeview 858.

 

For more information about Kent’s Filming History please visit our Movie Map.