Creator: D.C. Moore
Starring: Julianne Moore, Nicholas Galitzine, Tony Curran
Production Company: Hera Pictures, SKY Studios
Kent Locations Used: Cobham Hall, Knole Park
Mary and George (2024) is a 7-part historical drama series following the true story of Countess Mary Villiers, who moulded her son George to seduce King James I and become his all-powerful lover.
Cobham Hall is a private school in a historic house which is located in 150 acres of Grade II listed parkland. Its features include a stunning ballroom, library, cobbled courtyards, formal gardens, water towers, modern classrooms and sports facilities, including a swimming pool. Recent productions to have filmed at Cobham Hall include The Crown Series 1-6 (2016-2023), Hetty Feather Series 1-6 (2015-2020) and High End Yaariyaan (2019).
Creator: Peter Morgan Starring: Claire Foy, Olivia Colman, Imelda Staunton, Jonathan Pryce, Lesley Manville, Elizabeth Debicki, Dominic West Production Company: Left Bank Pictures, Sony Pictures Television Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham, Brompton Barracks, Cobham Hall, Lydd, Discovery Park, Rochester
The Crown (2016-2023) is a Netflix Original historical drama series focusing on the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Based on real events, the series is a fictional dramatization of the political and personal events that shaped her reign.
In Series 4, production visited Brompton Barracks in Chatham, where they used the Parade Square and The Mall for scenes re-enacting Trooping the Colour at the Horse Guards Parade. Brompton Barracks is ideally suited as a location to double for iconic London landmarks with a large parade ground, vaulted cellars under the Officer’s Mess, statues, stone bridges, a museum, and a large ornate arch.
For Series 5, production revisited The Historic Dockyard Chatham where they filmed the Queen boarding a ship at Anchor Wharf. Filming also took place in the village of Lydd, at Hardy Hall and The Green, which was used to recreate Tony Blair, played by Bertie Carvel (Dalgliesh, Doctor Foster), and his family casting their votes in the 1997 General Election – a scene which sadly did not make the final cut. Production also visited Cobham Hall, which doubled as Eton College.
Production returned to Kent for Series 6, with filming taking place at Cobham Hall, which once again doubles for Eton College. A jogging scene was also filmed in a nearby private woodland and in Episode 4 Discovery Park features as the hospital in France where Princess Diana passed away. The wedding of Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Camilla (Olivia Williams) in Windsor was filmed outside Rochester Guildhall in the City Centre doubling for the registry office at Windsor Guildhall and the wedding procession.
Cobham Hall is a private school in a historic house which is located in 150 acres of Grade II listed parkland. Its features include a stunning ballroom, library, cobbled courtyards, formal gardens, water towers, modern classrooms and sport facilities, including a swimming pool. Previous productions to have filmed at Cobham Hall include Hetty Feather (2015-2020), High End Yaariyaan (2019) and Tulip Fever (2018).
The first series of The Crown (2016-2023) was released on Netflix on Friday 4th November 2016. All seasons are currently available to view on Netflix.
Series 6 of The Crown (2016-2023) will be released on Netflix in two parts. Part 1 will be released on Thursday 16th November 2023, with Part 2 following on Thursday 14th December 2023.
Writer: Henry Fitzherbert, Bader Al Samari, Ray Loriga Director: Agusti Villaronga Starring: Abdullah Ali, Ed Skrein, Hermione Corfield, Kenneth Cranham Production Company: Arena Audiovisual, Celtic Films Entertainment Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham
Born a King (2019) is the real life, coming-of-age story of Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud who was sent to London in 1919 by his father to gather support for Saudi Arabia as a sovereign country. He was the first Saudi Prince to visit the UK and at 14 was entrusted to negotiate with some of the pre-eminent figures of the age; Lord Curzon (Kenneth Cranham) and Winston Churchill (Celyn Jones). He befriends Princess Mary (Hermione Corfield) who helps guide him through the corridors of power.
Anchor Wharf at The Historic Dockyard Chatham doubles as Plymouth Docks in the film, in a scene where Prince Faisal arrives in England and is greeted by the press and government officials.
Writer: Stephen Poliakoff Director: Stephen Poliakoff Starring: Toby Woolf, Suanne Braun, Keeley Hawes, Linus Roache, Timothy Spall, Toby Stephens Production Company: Little Island Productions Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyards, Chatham
Set in London during the height of the Cold War, Summer of Rockets (2019) is a drama based on true events amid with growing tensions across Europe. At the time, the UK tested its first hydrogen bomb, the Soviets launched their first ballistic missile, and the space race between America and the Soviet Union had begun.
The streets outside the Ropery in The Historic Dockyard Chatham were used to film the 1950s civil defence exercise in the series and the upper floors of the Ropery itself featured as civil defence training rooms.
Summer of Rockets can be seen on BBC Two on Wednesday 22nd May 2019 at 9pm. After this, episodes will then be shown every Wednesday for the next six weeks.
Writer: Beau Willimon Director: Josie Rourke Starring: Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie Production Company: Universal Pictures International Kent Locations Used: Penshurst Place
Historical drama Mary Queen of Scots is based on John Guy’s book ‘Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart’ and tells the story of Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan), Queen of France, who becomes widowed at 18, defies pressures to remarry and instead, returns to her native Scotland to reclaim her throne. However, when Mary’s attempt to overthrow her cousin Elizabeth I, Queen of England (Margot Robbie), fails, she is condemned to years of imprisonment before finally facing execution.
Filming took place at Penshurst Place in Sevenoaks, with lead actress Saoirse Ronan featuring in scenes set in the Baron’s Hall and the Inner Courtyard. The medieval Baron’s Hall also features at the start of the official trailer as a backdrop for Mary’s execution. The solemn procession of spectators waiting to witness Queen Mary’s execution was staged in the Inner Courtyard.
Writer / Director: Mike Leigh Starring: Rory Kinnear, Maxine Peake, Pearce Quigley Production Company: BFI Film Fund Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham and St Mary’s Marshes
Oscar nominated filmmaker Mike Leigh (Mr Turner) portrays one of England’s bloodiest episodes, the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. Government guards charged and attacked a peaceful protest held by 80,000 people in Manchester demanding democratic reform.
The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a well-known film location in Kent and has been used on many projects. Production used the Tarred Yarn Store and the exterior of the Ropery to double as a Cotton Mill in Manchester.
St Mary’s Marshes on the Isle of Grain appears in a short scene at the beginning of the film, a lonely figure walking along the marshes. The marshes are on the Isle of Grain, between the River Thames and the River Medway. The Medway area has been used in various TV Series and films such as Black Sea (2014).
The film will be released in the UK on 2nd November 2018.
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.
Dame Judi Dench stars as Queen Victoria and Ali Fazal as Abdul Karim (Fast and Furious 7 and 3 Idiots). The supporting cast include Olivia Williams
(The Sixth Sense and An Education), Michael Gambon(The Harry Potter Series and Sleepy Hollow), Eddie Izzard(Valkyrie and Ocean’s Thirteen) and Adeel Akhtar(The Dictator and Pan).
Creators: Alison Newman, Moira Buffini Writers: Moira Buffini, Jane English, Cat Jones, Debbie O’Malley Starring: Samantha Morton, Jessica Brown Findlay, Lesley Manville, Eloise Smyth, Holli Dempsey, Kate Fleetwood Production Company: Monumental Pictures, Independent Television (ITV) Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham
Already hotly debated in the press, ITV’s risqué eight part series, Harlots (2017-2019), takes us back to London 1763 when one in five women sold their body. The story follows brothel owner Margaret Wells (Samantha Morton), her daughters Charlotte (Jessica Brown Findlay) and Lucy (Eloise Smyth) and their rival, Madam Lydia Quigley (Lesley Manville).
The series was inspired by Jack Harris’ stories collected in Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies, a directory that contained a list of prostitutes, with their age, price and ‘specialities’.
Starring: Sam Riley, Kate Bosworth, Aneurin Barnard, Rainer Bock, Jonathan Cass, James Cosmo, Maeve Dermody, Lars Eidinger, Kit Connor and James Northcote
Set in the 1940s, in an alternate world where the Germans won the Battle of Britain, BBC’s new five part series SS-GB follows Scotland Yard detective Douglas Archer (Sam Riley), who is investigating a murder in German-occupied England. The gripping new drama is an adaptation of Len Deighton’s 1978 novel and will be split into five parts.
Writers Robert Wade and Neal Purvis both studied Film and Photographic Arts at the University of Kent. Since then they have forged a successful career writing screenplays together, with their first success being the controversial drama Let Him Have It (1991). Both writers have also co-written five James Bond films, including Quantum of Solace (2008) and Skyfall (2012), which was the UK’s highest grossing movie!
SS-GB brings together a fantastic cast including, Sam Riley (Maleficent, Control), Kate Bosworth (Still Alice, Superman Returns), Aneurin Barnard (Citadel, The Truth About Emanuel), Rainer Bock (War Horse, Inglorious Basterds and Unknown), Jonathan Cass (Transformers: The Last Knight, Kingsman: The Golden Circle), James Cosmo (Braveheart and Troy), Maeve Dermody (Black Water, Marcella), Lars Eidinger (Clouds of Sils Maria, Everyone Else), Kit Connor (Get Santa, Mr Holmes) and James Northcote (The Imitation Game).
Exterior street scenes were shot at The Ropery and Anchor Wharf and also around the church and South Stables. The Tarred Yarn store was featured as a mortuary and there was also a small scene in The Commissioners House garden.
Set over 80 acres with more than 100 Victorian and Georgian buildings, The Historic Dockyard Chatham is one of Kent’s most popular film locations and has previously been used for the BBC TV series Call The Midwife (2012-present), The Crown (2016) and most recently The Halcyon (2017).
SS-GB premiers on Sunday 19th February 2017 at 21:00pm on BBC One