World On Fire – Series 1 (2019)

Actor Jonah Hauer wearing a grey suit riding a bike with Zofia Wichlacz wearing a pink top and skirt sat in front of him. Cycling along a cobbled street with an army parade with horses behind them.

Zofia Wichlacz and Jonah Hauer-King in World On Fire ©BBC

Writer: Peter Bowker
Directors: Chanya Button, Adam Smith, Andy Wilson, Thomas Napper
Starring: Jonah Hauer-King, Zofia Wichlacz, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Helen Hunt, Sean Bean and Arthur Darvill
Production Company: BBC One, Mammoth Screen
Kent Locations Used: Historic Dockyard Chatham

Upcoming BBC seven-part drama series World On Fire (2019-), is a coming of age story set against the harsh conditions of World War II.

Written by Peter Bowker (Occupation, Eric & Ernie) directed by Chanya Button (Vita & Virginia), Adam Smith (Trespass Against Us), Andy Wilson (Cracker) and Thomas Napper (Jawbone). The drama series centers around the lives of ordinary people affected by the war starring Jonah Hauer-King (Postcards from London, Little Women) as Army soldier Harry Chase, Zofia Wichlacz (Warsaw ’44, Amok) as Kasia Tomaszeski and Yrsa Daley-Ward (White Colour Black, Der Koch) as Connie. Helen Hunt (As Good as It Gets, Mad About You) plays the role of an American news reporter Nancy Campbell based in Berlin, while Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones) is bus conductor and peace activist Douglas Bennett.

HMS Cavalier at The Historic Dockyard in Chatham was used as a major filming location in Episode 3 of the series playing the role of HMS Exeter during the first Naval battle of World War Two: Battle of River Plate.

Set on the River Medway, The Historic Dockyard Chatham has become a popular film location due to its unique Georgian and Victorian architecture, maritime environment, dry dock, cobbled streets, industrial buildings and collection of preserved naval vessels from different periods of the Royal Navy. The Dockyard has previously featured as a filming location set around the 1940s and 50s in a number of both British and international productions including Summer of Rockets (2019), The Halcyon (2018) and The Crown (2016).

The first episode of World on Fire aired on BBC One on Sunday 29th September 2019 and will also be available on Amazon Prime after the series has aired.

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


Vanity Fair (2018)

Poster for Vanity Fair series- women in long red dress sat on a gold chair with her feet up on a globe model.

Poster for Vanity Fair series ©ITV Studio

 

Writer:  Gwyneth Hughes

Director: James Strong

Starring: Olivia Cooke, Suranne Jones, Martin Clunes

Production Company: Mammoth Screen

Kent Locations Used: Deal, Dover, Sevenoaks and Medway

This new ITV series is an adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s classic Victorian novel Vanity Fair. Set in the time of the Napoleonic wars, it follows the life of a beautiful and determined woman named Becky Sharp (Olivia Cooke) as she attempts to claw her way out of poverty and climb straight to the top of 19th century English Society.

Starring Olivia Cooke (Ready Player One, Bates Motel) as the antihero Becky Sharp, Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster, Scott and Bailey) as Miss Pinkerton, Martin Clunes (Doc Martin, Men Behaving Badly) as Sir Pitt Crawley, Michael Palin (Monty Python, Remember Me) as Thackeray, Tom Bateman (Snatched, Into The Dark) as Captain Rawdon Crawley.

A cottage on Chevening House Estate was used for filming and featured as Rawdons’ (Tom Bateman) Cottage. This location is situated at the foot of the North Downs in Sevenoaks with extensive parkland surrounding it. It is set aside for official Government business.

A scene on the promenade, featuring soldiers and horses was filmed outside the Royal Hotel in Deal. The town is situated on the South Coast of Kent and has a longstanding naval history as one of the major Cinque Ports and many period features remain.

Squerryes Court in Sevenoaks was also used for filming Miss Pinkertons’ (Suranne Jones) school interiors. This location is a beautiful 17th century manor house which has been in the residence of the Warde family since 1731. It is surrounded with 20 acres of attractive and historic gardens which includes a lake and 18th century dovecote. Previous films that have used this location are The Hollow Crown: Henry V (2012) and The Boat that Rocked (2009).

The Historic Chatham Dockyard was also used. Production filmed various London street scenes outside the Ropery, as well as Anchor Wharf for an embarkation to France and the interior of Commissioners House. The Historic Chatham Dockyard built many ships for the Royal Navy over the last 400 years, including HMS Victory, and it is the home of the Royal Rope Makers, having produced ropes since 1618. It is a popular filming location which offers many period locations, authentic cobbled streets and three historic warships. The Dockyard has previously been featured in films such as Suffragette (2015) and Mr Turner (2014).

Vanity Fair begins on 2nd September 2018 at 9pm on ITV, with episode two airing the next day, on Monday (3rd September 2018). It will then continue for 5 Sunday nights at 9pm.

 

 

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

 

 

 


Quacks (2017)

Group of Quack characters in Victorian attire standing around operating table looking forward

Quacks (C) Lucky Giant – Photographer: Todd Antony

Writer: James Wood

Director: Andy De Emmony

Starring: Rory Kinnear, Mathew Baynton, Tom Basden, Lydia Leonard, Rupert Everett

Production Company: Lucky Giant

Kent locations used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Quacks is a new six-part BBC Two comedy series and follows William,  a young psychiatrist, (Mathew Baynton), Robert, an egotistical surgeon (Rory Kinnear), and John,  a hedonistic anaesthetist (Tom Basden) and their comedic misadventures during the early days of modern medical science in the 1840s.

The impressive ensemble cast includes Rory Kinnear (Skyfall, Quantum of Solace, The Imitation Game), Mathew Baynton (Peep Show, The Wrong Mans, You, Me and the Apocalypse) Tom Basden (Plebs, Star Stories) and Lydia Leonard (Da Vinci’s Demons, Whitechapel), with a guest performance by Rupert Everett (Stardust, St. Trinian’s, The Musketeers) as Dr. Hendrick.

Three Quack characters sitting at bar table looking at camera

Quacks (C) Lucky Giant – Photographer: Mark Johnson

The highly popular Historic Chatham Dockyard, Kent doubled as streets of Victorian London. It was also used as the location of the market place, the apothecary and bareknuckle boxing fight featured in the series.

The Historic Dockyard Chatham has previously been used as a filming location for a vast range of productions such as Close to the Enemy (2016), Mr. Holmes (2015), and Arthur & George (2015) with the over a hundred Georgian and Victorian buildings and cobbled streets making it a popular choice.

The new series of Quacks starts on Tuesday 15th August on BBC Two at 10pm.

 

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