The Great (2020-2023)

Catherine the Great (Elle Fanning) stands on a beach with white cliffs in the background. She is wearing a historical style dress which is white with red flowers. She has a red flower in her hair.

Elle Fanning in The Great (2020-2023) © Hulu

Creator: Tony McNamara
Starring: Elle Fanning, Nicholas Hoult, Phoebe Fox, Gwilym Lee, Sacha Dhawan
Production Company: Thruline Entertainment, Echo Lake Entertainment, Lewellen Pictures, MRC Television, Macgowan Films
Kent Locations Used: Hever Castle, St Clere Estate, Botany Bay, Cobham Wood, The Historic Dockyard Chatham

The Great (2020-2023), a satirical comedy from American streaming company Hulu, follows the infamous rise of Prussian-born Catherine the Great as she ascends to become the longest serving female ruler in Russian history. Forced to choose between her own personal happiness and the future of an empire, she abandons a life of love and romance and vows to change a country plagued by deceit and ruin.

Series 3 sees Catherine and Peter attempt to make their marriage work after a very rocky start. But with Peter haunted by visions of his late grandfather, Peter The Great (Jason Isaacs), will he stay content as mere First Husband to Catherine the Great for long?

The series was created by Tony McNamara (The FavouriteAshby) and stars Elle Fanning (Maleficent, Mary Shelley) as Catherine the Great, Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury RoadWarm Bodies) as Peter III of Russia. Phoebe Fox (Close to the EnemyThe Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death), Gwilym Lee (Bohemian RhapsodyMidsomer Murders) and Sacha Dhawan (Iron FistThe History Boys) feature in supporting roles.

Production visited various locations in Kent for Series 1, 2 and 3.

In Series 1 Episode 8, the Italian Loggia on Hever Castle lake doubles as an Eastern European house where Peter III of Russia (Nicholas Hoult) and Catherine (Elle Fanning) meet the Swedish King Hugo (Freddie Fox) and Queen Agnes (Grace Molony). The Loggia reappears in Series 2 Episode 1 as the house in which Peter and his confidantes Grigor (Gwilym Lee) and Georgina (Charity Wakefield) hide out from Catherine’s army.

The fields of St Clere Estate in Sevenoaks were used to stage battle scenes in Series 1 Episodes 5 and 7. The location returned in Series 2 Episode 1 as Catherine’s army’s base camp. St Clere also reappears in Series 3 Episodes 6 and 8 as an army camp on the Russia / Sweden border and the frozen lake where one key character meets an unexpected end.

Botany Bay in Broadstairs features in a dream sequence in Series 2 Episode 10, where Catherine images Peter eating a whale on the beach.

Cobham Wood appears briefly in Series 3 Episode 6, as Catherine and Grigor ride in a carriage through the woods. The Tarred Yarn Store at The Historic Dockyard Chatham also features in Series 3 Episode 5, doubling as the interior of a town hall where Pugachev (Nicholas Hoult) incites the peasants against Catherine.

Hever Castle is an outstanding 13th century and Tudor castle with a moat, stunning Italianate gardens, a beautiful lake, as well as a mock Tudor Village. It was the original home of the Boleyn family. Productions that filmed here include Inkheart (2008) and The Third Day (2020).

St Clere Estate is set in 2800 acres of the rolling Kent countryside and offers stunning views of the North Downs. Some of the ground’s features include formal gardens, paddocks, a meadow, fields, an orangery, green houses and a temple by the lake. St Clere Estate has previously been used to film Road Games (2016) and Sky’s original series Gangs of London (2020-2022).

One of the most popular filming locations in Kent, Botany Bay is a sandy bay set against a white cliff backdrop with a steep, sandy track for vehicle access and small portable café. Recent productions to have filmed on Botany Bay include The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021), The Baby (2022) and Sulphur and White (2020).

Cobham Wood is a vast woodland park containing an array of vegetation and landscapes. The park is home to the Darnley Mausoleum; built in the 18th Century as the final resting place for the Darnley family, it remains unused.

A historic 17th Century Dockyard spanning over 80 acres, Chatham Dockyard contains over 100 buildings dating from the Georgian and Victorian periods. One of the most popular filming locations in Kent, recent productions to have filmed on the site include A Spy Among Friends (2022), Enola Holmes 2 (2022), and Series 3 of Jerk (2023).

Series 3 of The Great will be released on Lionsgate+ on Friday 14th July 2023 and the series is currently available to stream on StarzPlay and All4.

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


Close To The Enemy (2016)

Kathy Griffiths (PHOEBE FOX) and Brigadier Wainwright (ROBERT GLENISTER) sitting in a car facing the camera

Kathy Griffiths (PHOEBE FOX), Brigadier Wainwright (ROBERT GLENISTER) © BBC Little Island Productions

Writer and Director: Stephen Poliakoff

Starring: Jim Sturgess, Freddie Highmore, August Diehl, Charlotte Riley, Phoebe Fox, Alfred Molina

Production Company: Little Island Productions in association with Endor Productions

Kent locations used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Dieter Koehler (AUGUST DIEHL) standing by an army vehicle

Dieter Koehler (AUGUST DIEHL) © BBC Little Island Productions

Set in the aftermath of the Second World War, Close To The Enemy tells the story of Captain Callum Ferguson (Jim Sturgess), an intelligence officer who is given the task of recruiting captured German scientist Dieter (August Diehl), to work for the RAF on the development of the jet engine by the British army.

The seven part series is written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff (Dancing on the Edge, The Lost Prince) and stars Jim Sturgess (Deception, Spike Island), August Diehl (Le jeune Karl Marx, Come What May), Freddie Highmore (Bates Motel, The Journey), Charlotte Riley (In the Heart of the Sea, Edge of Tomorrow), Phoebe Fox (The Hollow Crown, The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death) and Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2, Love is Strange).

The Close To The Enemy production team chose to film at The Historic Dockyard Chatham on HMS Cavalier, inside and outside Slip 3 and the upper floors of the Ropery which doubled as the arrival halls at the docks.  They also used a drone to fly across the river where the boat arrives.

The Historic Dockyard Chatham is set over 80 acres and contains over 100 Georgian and Victorian buildings as well as cobbled streets and dock spaces. Previously filmed at The Historic Dockyard Chatham was Call the Midwife (2010 – 2016), Downton Abbey (2013) and The Golden Compass (2007) among others.

Close To The Enemy starts on Thursday 10th November 2016 at 21:00 on BBC Two.

 

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