Kelly Reilly

Above Suspicion: The Red Dahlia (2010)

Posted on by Kent Film Office
Kelly Reilly as DC Anna Travis and Ciarán Hinds as DCI James Langton stand looking at a board which has photos and newspaper clippings of The Black Dahlia pasted all over it. Both Reilly and Hinds are wearing suits, and Hinds is holding a torch.

Ciaran Hinds and Kelly Reilly in Above Suspicion (2010) © ITV

Director: Gillies MacKinnon
Writer: Lynda La Plante
Starring: Kelly Reilly, Ciarán Hinds, Shaun Dingwall, Celyn Jones, Amanda Lawrence
Production Companies: La Plante Productions, RLJ Entertainment, RLJ Productions
Kent Locations Used: Westgate-on-Sea, West Bay House

Based on the series of books by Lynda La Plante, Above Suspicion (2009-2012) was an ITV crime-drama series about a female detective trying to survive in a male-dominated industry. Each series focuses on a different homicide case, as the team desperately try to track down the killers.

Series 2, titled ‘The Red Dahlia’, sees the return of ambitious female detective Anna Travis (Kelly Reilly) and her boss, Detective Constable James Langton (Ciarán Hinds). Together they must tackle their most terrifying case to date: the discovery of a woman’s mutilated body in the Thames. They soon realise they face a copy-cat killer who re-enacts the murders of the infamous 1940’s Black Dahlia case.

All three episodes are directed by Gillies MacKinnon (Small Faces, Trojan Eddie) and star Kelly Reilly (Sherlock Holmes (2009), Pride and Prejudice (2005)) as DC Anna Travis, Ciarán Hinds (Belfast, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) as DCI James Langton, Shaun Dingwall (Top Boy (2019-2022), Doctor Who) as DI Mike Lewis, Celyn Jones (Set Fire to the Stars, Submergence) as DS Paul Barolli, and Amanda Lawrence (The Amazing Mr Blunden (2021), Summerland (2020)) as DC Joan Faulkland.

The production came to Westgate-on-Sea in Thanet to film various scenes for Episodes 1 & 2. The promenade features in various flashback sequences which see Louise Pennel (Ty Glaser) looking out to sea. The exterior of St Cecelia’s House on Sea Road doubled as the exterior of Mrs Pennel’s (Hildegard Neil) home, and the interior was filmed at West Bay House.

Westgate-on-Sea is a civil parish on the north-east coast of Kent. It is a charming Victorian town with two fantastic blue flag beaches – West Bay and St Mildred’s Bay. Previous productions to have filmed in Westgate-on-Sea include True Love (2012) and Series 2 of Humans (2016).

Above Suspicion: Red Dahlia – Part 1 aired on ITV on Monday 4th January 2010, with the subsequent episodes airing on the following days.

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

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

Posted on by Kent Film Office
Elizabeth Bennett (Keira Knightley) and Mrs Bennet (Brenda Blethyn) running down some steps in a garden, plants and shrubbery either side of path

Elizabeth Bennett (Keira Knightley) and Mrs Bennet (Brenda Blethyn)

Director: Joe Wright

Writer: Deborah Moggach

Starring: Keira Knightley, Brenda Blethyn, Matthew Macfadyen, Judy Dench, Talulah Riley, Kelly Reilly, Rosamund Pike, Donald Sutherland, Jena Malone, Carey Mulligan

Production Company: Focus Features, Universal Pictures, StudioCanal, Working Title Films, Scion Films

Kent Filming Locations: Groombridge Place and Gardens

Jane Austen’s classic love story “Pride and Prejudice” is adapted for the big screen with an all-star cast which follows Elisabeth Bennett (Keira Knightley) through the trials and tribulations of love in the 1800’s. A first encounter between head strong Elisabeth and the rich and cold Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen) leaves Elisabeth hating him and declaring that he is the ‘last person’ she could ever marry. Are they able to overcome their ‘pride and prejudices’ to realise that they truly are meant to be together?

Directed by Joe Wright (Atonement, Hanna) and starring a wealth of acting talent including Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean series, Anna Karenina), Brenda Blethyn (Vera, Secrets and Lies), Matthew Macfadyen (The Three Musketeers, Frost/Nixon), Judy Dench (Philomena, Skyfall), Talulah Riley (Inception,  St. Trinian’s), Kelly Reilly (Sherlock Holmes, Flight), Rosamund Pike (Jack Reacher, Die Another Day), Donald Sutherland (The Hunger Games, The Italian Job), Jena Malone (Step Mom, Sucker Punch) and Carey Mulligan (Drive, Never Let Me Go).

Keira sitting under a tree at Groombridge holding a stick

Elizabeth Bennett (Keira Knightley) sitting under a tree at Groombridge © Groombridge Place

Groombridge Place in Tunbridge Wells was chosen for the perfect location to where they made use of the 17th century house, gardens, extensive woodlands and lake which doubled as the Bennett’s house and grounds.

Jane Austen has many connections with the county as her family originated from Kent and her brother Edward Knight owned Godmersham Park which lies between Ashford and Canterbury. Both Jane and her sister Cassandra were frequent visitors; this is perhaps why Kent appears throughout her novel Pride and Prejudice and it is therefore no surprise that Kent was chosen as the prime location for the new adaptation.

Pride and Prejudice was released in cinemas in September 2005 and can now be bought on DVD.

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