Jerk – Series 3 (2023)

Oliver Maltman as Jack Doyle, James Norton as himself, Sharon Rooney as Ruth and Tim Renkow as Tim stand in a line in a brick building. Behind them are bales of hay and a pile of wooden crates. Maltman wears baggy blue jeans, a red flannel shirt, blue jacket, navy blue gilet, navy blue beret and brown boots. Norton wears baggy grey trousers, brown shoes, a red fez and a loose-fitting yellow and green patterned shirt. Rooney wears blue skinny jeans, a blue hoody, grey coat and white trainers. Renkow is dressed as working-class person from the Victorian era in light brown corduroys, dark brown vest over white shirt, red neck scarf, brown cap and boots and is leaning on his walker.

Oliver Maltman, James Norton, Sharon Rooney and Tim Renkow in Series 3 of Jerk (2023) © BBC/Roughcut TV/Adam Lawrence

Director: Tom McKay
Starring:
Tim Renkow, Lorraine Bracco, Sharon Rooney, Rob J Madin
Production Company:
Primal Media, Roughcut TV
Kent Locations Used:
The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Jerk (2019-2023) is a BBC Three comedy series about Tim who has cerebral palsy. People often misjudge Tim due to his disability, but inside he is still a jerk.

Directed by Tom Mckay (Drunk History: UK, Bloods), the series stars Tim Renkow (Death to 2021, Bobby & Harriet Get Married) as Tim, Lorraine Branco (The Sopranos, Goodfellas) as Tim’s mum, Sharon Rooney (The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2022), My Mad Fat Diary) as his care worker Ruth, and comedian Rob J Madin as his friend Idris.

Series 3 sees Tim take on a myriad of jobs, including the lead role in a movie, a drug mule, and a job advising the government on disabilities. Love could also be in the air, as Tim finds himself falling for a disability activist with an agenda.

Production visited The Historic Dockyard Chatham for Series 3 Episode 1, which doubled as Grain Island Studios, where Tim is cast as an extra in a controversial film about a disabled musician, played by the able-bodied James Norton. Areas featured include The Ropery Alley, Anchor Wharf, The Tennis Courts and The Tarred Yarn Store.

The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a 17th Century dockyard which spans over 80 acres, containing over 100 buildings dating from the Georgian and Victorian periods. It is the most popular filming location in Kent, having played host to a variety of productions. Most recently, Operation Mincemeat (2022), Living (2022) and Enola Holmes 2 (2022).

Series 3 of Jerk began airing on BBC Three on Tuesday 14th March 2023 and is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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


Rogue Agent (2022)

Gemma Arterton as Alice and James Norton as Robert Freegard stand against a navy-blue background. Alice has long dark hair and wears a high-neck navy blue top. Robert wears a grey suit. The two actors’ faces are distorted by a large black swirl pattern.

Gemma Arterton and James Norton in Rogue Agent (2022) © IFC Films

Director: Declan Lawn, Adam Patterson
Writer: Michael Bronner
Starring: Gemma Arterton, James Norton, Sarah Goldberg, Shazad Latif, Jimmy Akingbola
Production Company: Rabbit Track Pictures
Kent Locations Used: Dover, St. Margaret’s Bay, South Foreland Lighthouse

Rogue Agent (2022) depicts the chilling true story of career conman Robert Freegard, who masqueraded as an MI5 agent in order to extort and kidnap countless victims. When one woman falls for his charms however, she becomes the only person capable of finally bringing him down.

Directed by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson (The Salisbury Poisonings), Rogue Agent stars James Norton (The Nevers (2021), Little Women) as Robert Freegard and Gemma Arterton (Summerland (2020), The Escape (2017)) as Alice, the woman who falls for his charms. Also appearing in the film are Sarah Goldberg (Barry, The Night House), Shazad Latif (Penny Dreadful, Spooks) and Jimmy Akingbola (Kate & Koji (2020-2022), In the Long Run (2019)).

Production visited several locations across Dover for their filming. A driving scene was shot on Upper Road, where Robert Freegard (James Norton) gives Alice (Gemma Arterton) the chance to drive his red Ferrari. The exterior of South Foreland Lighthouse features as the holiday let Freegard stays in with Alice and Jenny (Sarah Goldberg), and St. Margaret’s Bay appears in the scene where Freegard and Jenny take a walk along the beach and discuss her student debt.

Dover’s most recognisable landmarks are its White Cliffs. The Port of Dover connects the UK with the European mainland. First built in the 1180s, Dover Castle still towers above the town, signalling Dover’s strategic importance in the defence of the country. Previous productions to have filmed in Dover include the Sky crime series The Tunnel: Sabotage (2016), Series 1 and 2 of the BBC drama Missing (2009-2010), and the Doctor Who episode Mind of Evil (1971).

St. Margaret’s Bay is a small shingle-beach bay backed by the famous white chalk cliffs of Dover and supposedly where the sun first touches mainland UK each morning. It was once the home of Noel Coward, Peter Ustinov, as well as James Bond author Ian Fleming. As well as BBC’s Missing (2009-2010) series, two episodes of Poirot were filmed here, The Kidnapped Prime Minister (1990) and The Clocks (2009).

South Foreland Lighthouse is a Victorian lighthouse perched on The White Cliffs of Dover. Now owned by the National Trust,  it the first lighthouse powered by electricity, as well as the site of the first international radio transmission. The Bollywood film Rustom (2016) features the Lighthouse, as well as Series 3 Episode 7 of the ITV period drama Mr Selfridge (2013-2016).

Rogue Agent was released on Netflix on Wednesday 27th July 2022.

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


The Nevers (2021)

Laura Donnelly and Ann Skelly are standing arm in arm looking into the distance. They are dressed in Victorian clothes in a London street with washing hanging behind them.

Laura Donnelly and Ann Skelly in The Nevers – Hanged (2021) © HBO / Keith Bernstein

Creator and Director: Joss Whedon
Writer: Joss Whedon, Melissa Iqbal, Kevin Lau, Madhuri Shekar, Jane Espenson
Starring: Laura Donnelly, Olivia Williams, Ben Chaplin, Eleanor Tomlinson, James Norton, Pip Torrens, James Norton, Nick Frost, Denis O’Hare
Production Company: HBO
Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham, Fort Amherst

This 12-part, direct to TV series is an epic science fiction drama about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies and a mission that might change the world.

The Nevers (2021) was co-written by Joss Whedon (Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Melissa Iqbal (Humans (2016), Origin), Kevin Lau (Lovecraft Country, Damnation), Madhuri Shekar (Sister Act 3, Evil Eye), and Buffy co-writer Jane Espenson (Once Upon a Time, Game of Thrones). The series was also directed by Joss Whedon. This is not the first time Whedon has filmed in Kent, as he filmed at Dover Castle for Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).

Laura Donnelly (Outlander, Britannia (2021)) leads the cast as Amalia True, the most reckless, hero of her time. Olivia Williams (Victoria and Abdul (2017), The Halcyon (2017)) plays the role of Lavinia Bidlow, wealthy spinster and champion of The Touched, who funds the orphanage where Amalia lives. Eleanor Tomlinson (The Outlaws, Poldark) plays Mary Brighton, a gentle but resilient woman who pursues her dream of singing on stage despite a disappointing career.

Ben Chaplin (The Thin Red Line, The Children Act) is the deeply moral Detective Frank Mundi, a man caught between the powerful and The Touched. Pip Torrens (The Crown Series 1 – 6 (2016-2023), Roadkill) is the unflappable Lord Massen, a former general determined to protect the established order from The Touched.  Nick Frost (The Boat that Rocked (2009), Shaun of the Dead) portrays Declan Orrun, aka the Beggar King, a low-level crime lord. Denis O’Hare (American Horror Story, Dallas Buyers Club) plays Dr. Edmund Hague, a gifted American surgeon who uses his skills in the most brutal way possible and James Norton (Grantchester (2014), Little Women) plays pansexual posh boy, Hugo Swann.

In 2019, production visited The Historic Dockyard Chatham, making use of multiple areas at the location as London doubles for Victorian streets including the Ropery exterior, Anchor Wharf, Stables and Officers’ Terrace. In Episode One a stunt scene filmed on Ropery Street appears with masked horsemen chasing the protagonists Amalia True, Penance Adair (Ann Skelly) and Myrtle Haplisch (Viola Prettejohn). The rear of the Ropery building also stands in as a theatre stage door entrance. The Stables houses stand in for Dr Horatio’s (Zackary Momoh) home and Officer’s Terrace stands in for the London street where Maladie (Amy Manson) is led away to an “asylum for the psychologically deranged”. The Historic Dockyard Chatham also provided a unit base for cast and crew during filming at Fort Amherst. Production also filmed at Fort Amherst to depict colonial scenes for the second part of the series, which unfortunately never aired.

Various locations in the Medway area provided unit base facilities to support The Nevers cast and crew during filming. The Dockside Retail Outlet Chatham and The Medway Campus of Greenwich University provided car parking and Gillingham Football Club provided a base for Supporting Artists. The Historic Dockyard Chatham provided unit base facilities in the exterior car parks and on Anchor Wharf, while the Fitted Rigging House was utilised for crowd holding between scenes.

Set on the River Medway, The Historic Dockyard Chatham was once an active Royal Navy shipyard and is one of the most popular Kent filming locations, particularly for period dramas looking for London street doubles. Recent period drama TV productions include Pennyworth Series 1 (2019), Belgravia (2020) and The Crown Series 1 – 6 (2016-2023).

The first half of The Nevers (2021) was made available to stream on NOWTV on Monday 17th May 2021. Unfortunately, the series was axed before the second half was released.

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


Grantchester (2014)

Grantchester DVD cover- Two actors staring at the camera with a church behind. Grantchester written in gold on top

Grantchester DVD cover © ITV

Writers: James Runcie (novel), Daisy Coulam (TV adaption)

Starring: James Norton, Robson Green, Morven Christie, Tessa Peake-Jones, Al Weaver.

Production company: Lovely Day, Masterpiece

Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham 

ITV drama Grantchester is set in 1953 in a quiet village just outside Cambridge, where the vicar, Sidney Chambers (James Norton), finds himself investigating a series of murders alongside world-weary Detective Inspector Geordie Keating (Robson Green).

The six part series is based on The Grantchester Mysteries books, written by James Runcie and was adapted for TV by Daisy Coulam (Family Affairs, EastEnders, Casualty).

Grantchester stars James Norton (Rush, An Education, Mr. Turner), Robson Green (Soldier Soldier, Wire in the Blood, Mount Pleasant), Morven Christie (The Young Victoria , Hollow, House of 9), Tessa Peake-Jones (Poppy Shakespeare, Only Fools and Horses, The Lost World) and Al Weaver (Doom, Marie Antoinette, Me and Orson Welles).

In the UK, the series had an average audience of 6.6m and has been re-commissioned for a second series.

In July 2014, the production visited The Historic Dockyard Chatham which features in episodes five and six of Grantchester and doubles as various London locations including the exterior of Kings Cross Station, Borough Market, the exterior and interior of a warehouse and ropery. The London Convent and Gloria’s bedroom scenes were also filmed at The Historic Dockyard Chatham in Commissioners House.

One of Kent’s most popular filming locations, The Historic Dockyard Chatham is set over 80 acres and offers maritime spaces, Georgian and Victorian buildings and cobbled streets. Productions which have previously filmed at The Historic Dockyard Chatham include Victor Frankenstein (2015), Muppets Most Wanted (2014) and Oliver Twist (2007).

Grantchester was shown on ITV in October 2014 and is available for DVD purchase.

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