Director: Curtis Vowell
Writer: Andy Riley
Starring: Aimee Lou Wood, Nicola Coughlan, Lolly Adefope, Nick Frost, Jessica Hynes
Production Company: Entertainment Film Distributors
Kent Locations Used: Allington Castle
Seize Them! (2024) is a female-led comedy set in the Dark Ages. It follows Queen Dagan, who, after her reign is toppled by the revolutionary Humble Joan. Left a fugitive in the land she once ruled, Queen Dagan must embark on a dangerous voyage to win back her throne.
Allington Castle is a privately-owned 13th Century Castle situated on the River Medway. Once opening its doors to King Henry VIII, the Castle now plays host to film and TV crews, with productions such as The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood (1984), the 14th-century ABC drama Covington Cross (1992), and Series 2 of the American soap opera The Royals (2016), all making use of the Castle’s picturesque location.
Seize Them! (2024) will be released in UK Cinemas on Friday 5th April 2024.
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.
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.
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.
Brought to our screens by Richard Curtis, famed for Four Weddings and a funeral Notting Hill, The Boat that Rocked is a comedy focusing on the Rock and Roll antics of Pirate Radio DJ’s.
Carl (Tom Sturridge), recently expelled from school is sent to spend time with his Godfather Quentin, played by Bill Nighy, in the hope that he will find some much-needed guidance. As it turns out, Quentin is the manager of ‘Radio Rock’, a sea bound Pirate Radio Station. On the boat is a motley crew of eccentrics, including The Count (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), Dave (Nick Frost) and Midnight Mark (Tom Wisdom) who are all more than willing to impart their advice on life to the impressionable young man.
Life on the water is anything but smooth with the return of the ‘Greatest DJ in Britain’ (Rhys Ifans) he Count is forced to compete for the title he feels he rightly owns. In addition, Radio Rock has fallen foul of the Government who are determined to put a stop to the station and the rock and roll lifestyle it promotes.
The Boat that Rocked captures the essence of the swinging sixties and a generation for whom music was not just a passion, but a way of life that must be protected at all costs. The tale has echoes of the legendary Radio Caroline which first broadcasted its radio channel in 1964 in foreign waters not far from Felixstowe in Suffolk. Today the Radio Caroline is synonymous with Pirate Radio and continues to broadcast, now legally, out at sea.
The film is directed by Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill) and featuring an all-star cast: Bill Nighy (Love Actually, I Capture the Castle),Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz), Phillip Seymour Hoffman (The Big Lebowski, A Most Wanted Man) and Tom Sturridge (Being Julia, Far from the Madding Crowd)
The production visited Kent in 2007 to film scenes at Squerryes Court, a 17th Century manor home in Westerham. The house is set in 20 acres of land which include beautiful gardens and a lake. The rooms that were used during the filming are open to the public.
The Boat that Rocked was released in cinemas on the 1st April 2009 and is now out on DVD.
