ITV drama

Dark Heart Series 1 (2018)

Posted on by Kent Film Office
Actor Tom Riley from Dark Heart Series staring away from the camera in a suit and coat. City skyline in background.

Actor Tom Riley from Dark Heart Series ©ITV

Writer: Chris Lang
Director: Colin Teague
Starring: Miranda Raison, Anjli Mohindra, Tom Riley
Production Company: ITV Studios
Kent Locations Used: Shellness beach, Swale

ITV crime drama Dark Heart (2016-2018) will soon be hitting our screens, starring Tom Riley as DI Will Wagstaffe, who is haunted by his past after both his parents were murdered when he was just sixteen years old. Will and his team try to solve brutal crimes, whilst he also attempts to hold his own fractured life together.

Alongside Tom Riley (The Nevers (2021), Da Vinci’s Demons) are Miranda Raison (Spooks (2007), My Week with Marilyn) and Anjli Mohindra (The Lazarus Project, Bodyguard) and the series is written by Chris Lang (Unforgotten, Innocent) and directed by Colin Teague (Torchwood, Being Human).

Scenes were filmed at one of the beach chalets on Shellness Beach and included a drone shot of a car travelling along Shellness Road.

Shellness Beach has proved to be a popular filming location recently, with Netflix series End of the F***ing World (2017) and Channel 4’s Kiss Me First (2018) using the area as a filming location also.

Dark Heart can be seen on ITV on Wednesday 31st October 2018 at 9pm.

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

Next of Kin (2018)

Posted on by Kent Film Office
Actress Archie Panjabi and actor Jack Davenport embrace against a grey background

Next of Kin: Archie Panjabi as Mona Shirani and Jack Davenport as Guy Harcourt © ITV / Mammoth Screen

Writer:  Natasha Narayan, Paul Rutman
Director:  Justin Chadwick, Jamie Childs
Starring:  Archie Panjabi, Jack Davenport
Production Company: Mammoth Screen
Kent Locations Used: Oakdene Cafe, London Road, Wrotham

ITV’s new drama series Next Of Kin (2018) follows whip-smart GP Mona Shirani who lives in London with political lobbyist husband Guy Harcourt. Family life is shattered when Mona’s brother is brutally murdered whilst working for a medical charity abroad. In the wake of the murder, Mona’s family comes under suspicion and is drawn deep into a tangle of betrayal and conspiracy as they try to protect their loved ones and careers.

The six-part series was written and created by husband and wife team Paul Rutman (Indian Summers, Vera) and Natasha Narayan. Emmy Award winner and Golden Globe nominee, Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife, The Fall), and renowned actor Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Smash), star in Mammoth Screen’s fast-paced family thriller.

Oakdene Cafe, London Road in Wrotham Kent  features in Episode 4 where filming took place in June 2017.  Wrotham is a village on the Pilgrims’ Way in Kent, at the foot of the North Downs. It is one mile north of Borough Green and approximately five miles east Sevenoaks, a historic market town which has attracted several large productions in 2017 including Judwaa 2 (2017).

Kent is increasingly popular with ITV drama productions and hosting popular series such as Liar (2017) filmed partly in Deal and Walpole Bay and Mr Selfridge (2013-2016) partly filmed at The Historic Dockyard Chatham.

Next Of Kin (2018) began airing on ITV on Monday 8th January 2018.

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

The Halcyon (2017)

Posted on by Kent Film Office
The Halcyon cast standing in a hall on a small staircase,

The Halcyon © ITV

Writer: Charlotte Jones

Starring: Kara Tointon, Steven Mackintosh, Alex Jennings, Olivia Williams, Jamie Blackley, Edward Bluemel, Hermione Corfield, and Matt Ryan

Production Company: Left Bank Pictures, ITV

Kent Locations Used: The Ropery and Anchor Wharf at The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Set in the 1940s, ITV’s The Halcyon charts the lives of staff and guests in a five-star hotel during World War II. The story is told from the point of view of Joe O’Hara (Matt Ryan), an American journalist and illustrates how the war permeated all areas of London life; be it that of the guests seeking an escape from the war or the forbidden love affair of the hotel’s resident jazz singer, Betsy (Kara Tointon). Samuel Sim’s soundtrack punctuates the action with sultry jazz tunes, and will be released the day the show airs.

The Halcyon brings together an incredible ensemble cast, including Kara Tointon (Eastenders, The Sound of Music Live!), Alex Jennings (The Queen, Babel) and Olivia Williams (The Sixth Sense, An Education), Steven Mackintosh (Stan Lee’s Lucky Man, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), Sope Dirisu (Undercover, Humans) and Matt Ryan (Constantine, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour).

Exterior scenes of bombed London streets were shot at The Ropery and on Anchor Wharf, at  The Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent.

Set over 80 acres in the Medway area of Kent, The Historic Dockyard Chatham has more than  100 Georgian and Victorian buildings as well as cobbled streets and dock spaces. The Historic Dockyard Chatham has previously welcomed filming from The Crown (2016), Partners in Crime  (2015) and Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows  (2011).

The Halcyon premiered on Monday 2nd January 2017 at 21:00 on ITV

 

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

 

 

Murder on the Home Front (2013)

Posted on by Kent Film Office

 

Murder on the Home Front characters standing on a London Street facing the camera

Murder on the Home Front © ITV

Starring: Patrick Kennedy, Tamzin Merchant, James Fleet, Emerald Fennell

Production company: Carnival Films

Kent Locations:  The Historic Dockyard

Murder on the Home Front is a new two part ITV drama set  in London during the Blitz and is loosely based on the memoirs of Molly Lefebure, a secretary to Home Office Pathologist Keith Simpson. It documents the different crimes committed in London at the time by individuals who used the distractions and devastation of the war to conceal their actionsr.

Murder on the Home Front features many familiar faces, including Patrick Kennedy (Boardwalk Empire, Parade’s End) and Tamzin Merchant (Jane Eyre, The Tudors) as well as James Fleet (Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Vicar of Dibley) and Emerald Fennell (Any Human Heart, Anna Karenina).

The Historic Dockyard in Chatham was used to re-create the London streets of World War II. Thanks to its authentic and historic exterior, the The Historic Dockyard in Chatham has often used as a location for productions such as Call the Midwife (2012-2013), Les Misérables (2012) and Sherlock Holmes (2009).

Don’t miss the first episode of Murder on the Home Front which airs on Thursday 9th May 2013 on ITV1 at 21:00.

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