Unforgotten (2021)

The image shows head shots of actors Sanjeev Bhaskar and Nicola Walker looking into the distance. Sanjeev wears a black coat and Nicola wears a red coat.

Sanjeev Bhaskar and Nicola Walker in Unforgotten (2020) Series 4 © Alex Fletcher BT TV News

Writer: Chris Lang
Director: Andy Wilson
Starring: Nicola Walker, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Sheila Hancock, Susan Lynch, Phaldut Sharma, Liz White, Andy Nyman, Clare Calbraith, Lucy Speed
Production company: Mainstreet Pictures
Kent Locations Used: Rochester City, Rochester Cathedral, Medway Rowing Club, Strood

Unforgotten (2021) is a murder mystery series set in London, that follows two detectives, DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker) and DI Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) as they investigate and attempt to unravel unsolved crimes. Series 4 kicks off with the discovery of a thirty-year-old corpse, the perfect cold case for the detectives to solve.

Series Four was once again written by award winning Chris Lang (Innocent, A Mother’s Son) and directed by Andy Wilson (Cracker). It stars Nicola Walker (Spooks, Four Weddings and a Funeral) as DCI Cassie Stuart and Sanjeev Bhaskar (Yesterday, Absolutely Anything) as DI Sunny Khan. Co-stars are set to include Sheila Hancock (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas), Susan Lynch (Killing Eve), Phaldut Sharma (EastEnders) and Andy Nyman (Judy).

Filming took place in historic Rochester City, featuring Rochester Cathedral. Another feature filmed in the city at the Royal Victoria & Bull Hotel was Last Orders (2002). Standing above the River Medway, in the centre of the city,  Rochester castle  has featured in Bollywood feature, Veer (2010) and the Dicken’s adaptation of The Mystery of Edwin Drood (2012).

The production also visited neighbouring Strood, across the River Medway, a popular location for those who enjoy water sports, fishing or even a boat trip along the river.

Series 4 of Unforgotten aired on ITV on Monday 22nd February 2021.

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


Next of Kin (2018)

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

Writers:  Natasha Narayan, Paul Rutman

Directors:  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 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, Smash), star in Mammoth Screen’s fast-paced family thriller, Next Of Kin.

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) and The Big Family Cooking Showdown (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 (2016) partly filmed at The Historic Dockyard Chatham.

ITV’s new drama series Next Of Kin starts on Monday 8th January at 9pm and the episode featuring Kent will be screened on 29 January 2018.

 

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


Strike – The Cuckoo’s Calling/The Silkworm (2017)

Cormoran Strike (TOM BURKE) walking down street with hands in pockets

Strike – Cormoran Strike (TOM BURKE) – (C) Bronte Films – Photographer: Steffan Hill

Writer: Ben Richards (The Cuckoo’s Calling)

Director: Michael Keillor, Kieron Hawkes, Charles Sturridge

Starring: Tom Burke, Holliday Grainger, Kerr Logan

Cormoran Strike (TOM BURKE), Robin Ellacott (HOLLIDAY GRAINGER) standing on bridge looking at camera

Strike – The Cuckoo’s Calling – Cormoran Strike (TOM BURKE), Robin Ellacott (HOLLIDAY GRAINGER) – (C) Bronte Film & TV Ltd – Photographer: Steffan Hill

Production Company: BBC, Bronte Film and TV in association with HBO

Kent Locations Used: Penshurst Place, Sevenoaks

Strike – The Cuckoo’s Calling is a brand new seven part BBC drama based on the best-selling detective series written by J.K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. There are the first of three adaptations of the respective novels The Cuckoo’s Calling, The Silkworm and Career of Evil.

Cormoran Strike (Tom Burke), a war veteran turned private detective works and lives in his tiny office in London’s Denmark Street. In The Cuckoo’s calling, business is not great for Cormoran when Robin Ellacott (Holliday Grainger) is mistakenly sent to assist him with his paperwork just as super model Lula Landry (Elarica Johnson ) supposedly takes her own life by jumping from a Mayfair balcony.

Following his investigation of the Lula Landry case, The Silkworm takes up the story when Strike is tasked by Leonora Quine (Monica Dolan) to locate her husband, the notorious writer Owen Quine, who has disappeared without a trace.

The Cuckoo’s calling was adapted by Ben Richards (Outcasts, Spooks) and Tom Edge (Lovesick, The Crown) and directed by Michael Keillor. The cast is led by Tom Burke (Only God Forgives, Third Star) and Holliday Grainger (Cinderella, The Finest Hours) with support from Kerr Logan (Game of Thrones, London Irish) as Matthew Cunliffe.

The production filmed at Penshurst Place as well as in a private residence in Sevenoaks.

Lady Bristow (SIAN PHILLIPS) lying on sofa talking to John Bristow (LEO BILL),

Strike – The Cuckoo’s Calling – John Bristow (LEO BILL), Lady Bristow (SIAN PHILLIPS) – (C) Bronte Film & TV Ltd

Penshurst Place is a 14th Century Manor House with preserved interiors, including the unique medieval Baron’s Hall as well as 11 acres of Elizabethan walled gardens. The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses (2016), Wolf Hall (2015) and Merlin have previously filmed at Penshurst Place.

Sevenoaks is a historic town in West Kent just outside the gates to Knole Park. It is the home of Sevenoaks School which supported the production and has one of the oldest lying foundations in England, laid down by William Sevenokes in 1432. The town has previously featured in Future Tense: The Story of H.G. Wells (2016).

 

Strike – The Cuckoo’s Calling will screen on BBC One on Sunday August 27th & Monday 28th August at 9pm, concluding the following Sunday 3rd September.

The Silkworm will follow with two episodes on 10th and 17th September.

Career of Evil, the final, two-part instalment is due to be release in the New Year.

 

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

 


SS-GB (2017)

Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer staring at the camera with barbed wire behind him on a red background

Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer (SAM RILEY) © Sid Gentle Films

Writers: Robert Wade and Neal Purvis

Starring: Sam Riley, Kate Bosworth, Aneurin Barnard, Rainer Bock, Jonathan Cass, James Cosmo, Maeve Dermody, Lars Eidinger, Kit Connor and James Northcote

Production Company: Sid Gentle Films, BBC

Kent locations used: The Historic Dockyards Chatham

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!

Archer (Sam Riley) and Harry Woods (James Cosmo) standing in an office room

Episode 1 Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer (SAM RILEY), Harry Woods (JAMES COSMO) © Sid Gentle Films

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

 

 

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


Miss Marple – The Moving Finger (2006)

Geraldine McEwan and James D'Arcy staring into the camera in front of a period style house

Geraldine McEwan and James D’Arcy as Miss Marple and Jerry Burton © ITV

Director: Tom Shankland

Writer: Kevin Elyot

Starring:  Geraldine McEwan, James D’Arcy, Emilia Fox, Jessica Hynes, Kelly Brook, Sean Pertwee, Ken Russell , Harry Enfield .

Production Company: Granada, WGBH Boston, Agatha Christie

Kent Filming Locations: Chilham village, Chilham Castle, St Mary’s Church

Miss Marple is the popular ITV series adapted from Agatha Christie’s murder mystery novels. The Moving Finger is a feature length episode about a delightful countryside village named “Lymstock” where Jerry Burton (James D’Arcy) comes to recuperate after an accident, accompanied by his sister Joanna (Emilia Fox). Beneath the beautiful exterior of Lymstock lies an ugly web of deceit and evil unleashed by a poison pen writer and gruesome murders. Along with Miss Marple (Geraldine McEwan), Jerry Burton (James D’Arcy) look for clues to try and stop the killer in their tracks.

Kelly Brook and Harry Enfield along with other cast members looking down to the floor at a funeral, film crew are to the left filming them

Filming of Miss Marple with Kelly Brook and Harry Enfield © ITV

Emilia Fox sat on a chair in costume signing autographs

Emilia Fox signing autographs © Ashford Borough Council

Directed by Tom Shankland (Ripper Street, The Children)  and starring many familiar faces including Geraldine McEwan (Vanity Fair, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves), James D’Arcy (Cloud Atlas, Age of Heroes), Emilia Fox (Merlin, Randall & Hopkirk), Jessica Hynes (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Shaun of the Dead), Kelly Brook (The Italian Job, Piranha 3D), Sean Pertwee (Equilibrium, Event Horizon), Ken Russell  (Waking the Dead, Zero) and Harry Enfield (Bad Education, Kevin & Perry Go Large).

The beautiful village of Chilham was chosen to represent the fictitious hamlet of Lymstock and the production also made use of other locations in the area including Chilham Castle which was used as Mr. Pye’s House and St Mary’s Church which doubled as Lymstock church and graveyard.

Chilham has a remarkable fifteenth century square of black and white timbered buildings and is no stranger to filming, having been used for other projects such as for a variety of filming projects including Channel 4 comedy Chickens (2011), BBC’s Emma (2009), and Hercule Poirots Christmas (1995).

The programme was shown on ITV in 2005 and is now available to buy on DVD.

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