Back to Life Series 1 and 2 (2019 – 2021)

 

Daisy Haggard as Miri Matteson is sat on a bench on a pebbled beach with Adeel Akhtar as Billy. She has long hair blowing in the wind and is holding her phone and a sandwich. She is wearing a green anorak and black leggings. Adeel has black hair and a beard and wears a brown jacket and blue jeans.

Miri Matteson (Daisy Haggard), Billy (Adeel Akhtar) in Back to Life Series 2 (2021) in Hythe © SHOWTIME

Writer: Daisy Haggard and Laura Solon
Director: Christopher Sweeney
Starring: Daisy Haggard, Geraldine James, Jamie Michie, and Christine Bottomley
Production Company: BBC Studios
Kent locations used: Dungeness, Abbot’s Cliff in Dover, Folkstone Harbour Arm, Hythe, Lydd-on-Sea

BBC3 comedy drama Back to Life (2019-) follows Miranda ‘Miri’ Matteson (Daisy Haggard Breeders Series 2 (2021), Hilda) who has just been released from prison, having spent a decade behind bars. In Series One she is desperate to go straight and move on with her life.

In Series Two Miri starts a relationship with her neighbour Billy (Adeel Akhtar (Victoria and Abdul (2017)), but all is not plain sailing as a body is washed up on the beach and she becomes the prime suspect.

The series was directed by Christopher Sweeney (Parental Advisory: Disciplinary Measures, Women are from Mars), is written by Daisy Haggard and Laura Solon, and stars Daisy Haggard (Black Mirror, Outnumbered), Geraldine James (Alice in Wonderland, Sherlock Holmes), Jamie Michie (Game of Thrones, The Outlaw King) and Christine Bottomley (Hard Sun, The End of the F***ing World).

The series is set in in the small seaside town of Hythe, and filming for both series took place along the seafront, including various scenes at the beach promenade on West Parade, and a cycling sequence on the promenade at Princes Parade. In Series 2, Hythe High Street is pictured in various scenes, including Caroline (Geraldine James) and Oscar’s (Richard Durden) litter-picking crusade and when Lara’s father John (Adrian Edmondson) leads a procession of mourners through the town.

For Series One, production filmed in locations across Dungeness, including Dungeness Estate and the Britannia Pub InnLydd on Sea’s Lade Car Park also features in both series; in Series One it plays host to a Fish & Chips van, and in Series Two it became the driving school where Miri takes her practical test. Dungeness has played host to several recent TV productions including Brave New World (2020), The Third Day (2020) and Fantasy Homes by the Sea – Series 7 (2018).

Folkestone’s Harbour Arm features in several episodes of Series Two, with the lighthouse becoming the site of an untimely and mysterious death. The Folkestone & Hythe district of Kent has 26 miles of beaches and is a popular location for filming, recently appearing in Flesh and Blood (2020) and Queens of Mystery (2019).

Abbot’s Cliff in Dover features in both series as the site of a tragic death.

Series One aired on BBC 3 on Monday 15th April 2019 and is currently available on iplayer.

Series Two airs weekly on BBC One from Tuesday 31 August at 10.35pm and will be available on BBC iPlayer from the same date.

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


Ginger and Rosa (2012)

 

Ginger (right, Elle Fanning) and Rosa (left, Alice Englert) walking with their arms around each other in front of some pylons

Ginger (right, Elle Fanning) and Rosa (left, Alice Englert) © Artificial Eye Publicity

Director: Sally Potter

Starring: Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, Christina Hendricks, Timothy Spall, Oliver Platt, Annette Bening

Production Company: BBC Films, British Film Institute, Det Danske Filminstitut

Kent locations used: Dengemarsh Sound Mirrors, Lydd on Sea, Lade Beach, Greatstone, Lydd Ranges, Lydd, Queenborough, Isle of Sheppey

Ginger and Rosa is directed by Sally Potter and tells the story of two teenage girls living in 1960’s London under the threat of nuclear war due to the Cuban Missile Crisis. This coming of age story is a tale of friendship, desire, determination and the struggles of growing up.

The inseparable friends take different paths in life. Ginger, played by Elle Fanning (Super 8, We Bought A Zoo) becomes involved in anti-nuclear demonstrations while Rosa, played by emerging talent Alice Englert, is more interested in boys.

L-R Elle Fanning, Timothy Spall, Annette Bening and Oliver Platt all staring at the camera in front of some trees

L-R Elle Fanning, Timothy Spall, Annette Bening and Oliver Platt © Artificial Eye Publicity

Supporting Fanning and Englert is an A-list cast, including Christina Hendricks (Mad Men), Timothy Spall (Harry Potter), Oliver Platt (X Men: First Class)  and Annette Bening (American Beauty).

The Ginger and Rosa crew filmed at many locations in Kent, including the unique and striking sound mirrors on Dengemarsh, which look out over the shingle desert and were built in the late 1930’s for the early detection of enemy aircraft before the discovery of radar.

The production also used Lade Beach and boardwalk which is near the Romney Sands and changes from shingle at low tide to sand and mudflats as the water recedes. Also featured in the film are nearby Lydd Ranges, a military training facility.

Locations on and around the Isle of Sheppey were also used for various boating scenes, including a floating jetty at Queenborough jetty and the Swale estuary for the open water shots.

Ginger and Rosa was released in cinemas on 19th October 2012 and is now available to buy on DVD.

 

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