Creator: Simon Kinberg, David Weil Starring: Golshifteh Farahani, Shioli Kutsuna, Shamier Anderson, Billy Barratt
Production Company: Genre Films, K Films, Platform One Media
Kent Locations Used: Dover, Eurotunnel
Invasion (2023) is an American sci-fi series set during the aftermath of an alien invasion and seen through the eyes of five ordinary people across the globe.
Dover is home to the busiest passenger port in the world, connecting the UK with the European mainland. Dover Castle towers above the town, signalling Dover’s strategic importance in the defence of the country and the White Cliffs are one of the most recognised landmarks in Britain. A popular filming location, Dover has also played host to Rogue Agent (2022), Whitstable Pearl (2021-2022), and Pistol (2022).
The Channel Tunnel is a 31-mile rail tunnel linking Folkestone to Europe. It was one of the main settings for the programme The Tunnel (2013).
Series 2 of Invasion was released on Apple TV on Wednesday 23rd August 2023.
Creator: Charlie Brooker Starring: Aaron Paul, Josh Hartnett, Kate Mara
Production Company: Zeppotron, Channel 4 Television, Babieka
Kent Locations Used: Home Farm, Chilham Mill Estate, Dungeness, Perry Wood
Black Mirror (2011-2023) is a Netflix anthology series set in a dystopian future, with each episode focusing on unique individuals grappling with the effects of technology.
Set in an alternative 1969, Beyond the Sea follows two astronauts, Cliff and David, who are deep in outer space on a six year-long mission. Thanks to technology, the two can transfer their consciousness into highly realistic replicas of themselves back on Earth. When a tragedy occurs, their lives onboard and off the ship are thrown into turmoil.
Various locations in Kent feature throughout the episode. Cliff’s family home was shot at Home Farm in Swale, the river where Cliff and his son Henry (Daniel Bell) go fishing was filmed at Chilham Mill Estate, and the woodland where Lana takes David was Perry Wood in Selling. Dungeness also features as the road which Lana travels along to get into town, and where she later sits in her car waiting for Cliff to return from the ship.
Situated in Swale, Home Farm is a colonial style weatherboarded villa, with veranda’s overlooking the countryside. Inside, rooms are decorated in a vintage chic style with reclaimed wood floors and chateau doors. The property is particularly popular for photoshoots but has also featured in The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2017), Juliet, Naked (2018) and The Current War (2019).
Perry Wood is an ancient woodland lying between Selling and Chilham parishes. It is designated as a Local Wildlife Site and offers stunning panoramic views of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Chilham Mill Estate is located in the idyllic village of Chilham, which offers a multitude of features including a stunning private castle, two pubs, a traditional beamed village hall and a Norman built church which is believed to be the final resting place of Thomas Becket. The village has previously been featured in Emma (2009), Chickens (2011), and A Canterbury Tale (1944).
A unique expanse of SSSI shingle beach, the Dungeness Estate also features ramshackle huts, old and ultra-modern residences, two lighthouses, boat moorings, two pubs and artist galleries. It’s one of Kent’s most popular filming locations, having recently featured in Back to Life (2019-2021), Brave New World (2020) and Una (2017).
Season 6 of Black Mirror will be released on Netflix on Thursday 15th June 2023.
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.
Writer: Lynn Renee Maxcy Director: Paul Raschid Starring: Michelle Mylett, Kate Dickie, Al Weaver, Kim Adis Production Company: Little Jade Productions, Red & Black Films Kent Locations Used: Discovery Park Ltd, Sandwich Bay Estate, Upton Farm
The Complex: Lockdown (2020) is a Sci-Fi Thriller based on a computer game of the same name and set in a locked-down London laboratory after a bio-weapon attack on the city. With time and air running out, two scientists are tasked with saving the life of a bioweapon’s terrorist.
Sandwich Bay Estate, is another Kent filming location used for this production. It offers a rural, step shingled beach and at low tide there are large sand flats.
Upton Farm is a Wholesale farm situated in Kent. It offers green fields and pastoral lands. Izo FitzRoy’s 2019 music video for I Want Magic was previously shot here.
The film is being released online via 101 Films on Monday 27th July 2020.
Writer: Eke Chukwu Director: Eke Chukwu Starring: Kirsten Foster, Ian Reddington, Lisa Moorish, Max Scully Production Company: Independent Film Kent Locations Used: Tankerton Beach, Whitstable
A gripping combination of romance and sci-fi, Zoe and the Astronaut tells the heart-warming story of a Leukaemia patient, who sees a space pod crash in a field near her home and inside is a young astronaut. She uses her last days showing him the beauty of life on Earth.
Filming took place on Tankerton Beach for the final sequence of the film. Tankerton Beach is a shingle beach with wooden beach huts along the coastline, as well as the grassy slopes that run alongside the shingles. There is a sailing club, and a skate park facing the beach, as well as phenomenal views. At a low tide, a walkway known as ‘The Street’ is revealed going out towards the sea. Productions to have filmed at Tankerton Beach include Britain at Low Tide – Series 3 (2019) and Kathy Burke’s All Woman (2019).
Zoe and the Astronaut was released on the 4th May 2018.
Black Mirror is a Netflix drama series that focuses on unsettling visions of reality and tends to be satirical with its social commentary and dystopian storylines, each episode featuring a unique story.
The Series, now in its fourth season, was created and written by Charlie Brooker (10 O’ Clock Live) and has a number of high profile directors, such as Jodie Foster (Money Monster), each directing their own episode. Segments of Episode 5 MetalHead, directed by David Slade (Hannibal), were filmed at a private property in Harrietsham village near Maidstone in April 2017.
The episode, filmed entirely in black and white, stars Maxine Peake (The Theory of Everything) and follows a woman whose companions are mauled by a mysterious dog at a warehouse. MetalHead is a chase story set against the empty post‑apocalyptic landscape of the Scottish moors.
Fairbourne Reservoir East in Maidstone features as the empty house Bella (Maxine Peake) seeks refuge in towards the end of the episode.
Black Mirror: Season 4 will be released on 29 December 2017 on streaming service Netflix. All six episodes will be available on the day, each of which will once again be a self-contained film.
Writer: Keir Burrows Director: Keir Burrows Starring: Yaiza Figueroa, Philippa Carson, Tom Barber-Duffy, Julia Savill, Noah Maxwell Clarke, Holly Joyce Production Company: The Cast Iron Picture Co Kent Locations Used: Bradbourne House
Anti Matter is a science fiction noir that follows scientist Liv (Philippa Carson) as she desperately tries to discover what happened to her after an experiment to generate and travel through a wormhole. She must find out who, or what, is behind the struggles in her life alongside her friends Ana (Yaiza Figueroa) and Nate(Tom Barber-Duffy).
Production used Bradbourne House in Kent as a double for Liv’s grandmother Brenda’s (Julia Savill) house. Beautiful exterior and interior shots are used as Liv, Anna and Nate visit Tinkles the cat.
Bradbourne House is a mansion set in a twenty acres of parkland located in West Malling. Features include extensive woodlands, a lake, a ballroom, conference rooms, small panelled library, glass greenhouse, walled orchard, converted stables and cellars.
Anti Matter was released in the UK on 10th July 2017.
Starring: Sally Phillips, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Tom Goodman-Hill, Adrian Edmondson
Production Company: Lost Eye Films
Kent Locations Used: Manor Way Business Park in Swanscombe, Old Town Hall Gravesend, Powerhub in Maidstone, Northfleet Industrial Estate
The Rizen (2017) and The Rizen: Possession (2020) is a horror story set in 1955, an era when both NATO and the Allied Forces were supposedly conducting secret, occult experiments in a bid to win the Arms Race.
What if they had succeeded and what the Army unleashed threatens to tear the world apart?
The Rizen was written and directed by Matt Mitchell (Gangsters, Guns & Zombies, It Never Sleeps). The film stars Sally Phillips (Bridget Jones’s Diary, The Decoy Bride), Julian Rhind-Tutt (Lucy, Rush), Tom Goodman-Hill (Mr Selfridge, Everest) and Adrian Edmondson (War and Peace, Bottom).
The production was largely based in Kent and the Manor Way Business Park in Swanscombe was used as their studio. Production filmed the endless, dark corridors in the Powerhub in Maidstone and ‘laboratory’ and ‘radio room’ scenes at Northfleet Industrial Estate with both locations doubling as an ex-military base. Filming also took place at Gravesend Old Town Hall which featured as a Grand Hall for an ‘academy’.
Manor Way Business Park is an industrial area with offices and warehouses located in Swanscombe, famous for its spectacular finds of Early Man. The site has excellent transport links and previously featured in Gangsters, Guns & Zombies (2012) and Doctor Strange (2016).
The Powerhub in Maidstone is a five storey, listed, industrial building with a 1900’s art deco exterior. Inside the building there are a selection of studios, offices, showrooms and amazing studios. Past productions that have filmed in Maidstone include Missing (2009), Children in Need – The Rickshaw Challenge (2015) and Couples Come Dine With Me (2014).
Northfleet Industrial Estate is an estate in two halves, having been cut in half by the high speed railway and each half has its own tone. The location was used for filming a car crash scene in Doctor Strange (2016).
Production Company: Kudos Productions, Matador Films
Starring: Gemma Chan, Emily Berrington, Colin Morgan, Katherine Parkinson, Carrie-Ann Moss, Tom Goodman-Hill
Kent Locations Used: Westgate-on-Sea – West Bay Café, Piggy Bank nursery, Station Road Birchington, Botany Bay, Norfolk Road, Cliftonville
Set in a parallel present, Humans returns for a second series and explores how the latest family gadgets, highly-developed robotic servants called “Synths”, affect and transform human lives, not always for the better.
Series two picks up several months after the end of the first series – Niska (Emily Berrington) is still missing and her fellow synths – Mia (Gemma Chan), Leo (Colin Morgan) and Max (Ivanno Jeremiah) are still trying to find their place in the world amidst unconfirmed reports of synths behaving erratically.
The award winning first series of Humans attracted an average of 4.8million viewers, becoming Channel 4’s highest rated drama in 20 years.
The series stars Gemma Chan (Secret Diary of a Call Girl Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit), Emily Berrington (The Inbetweeners 2 24: Live Another Day), Colin Morgan (Merlin The Fall), Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd, The Boat That Rocked), Carrie-Ann Moss (Jessica Jones, The Matrix) and Tom Goodman-Hill (Mr Selfridge, Everest).
The production team filmed in Thanet between April and June 2016 using locations including Westgate-on-Sea – West Bay Café, Piggy Bank nursery, Station Road in Birchington and Botany Bayand Norfolk Road in Cliftonville.
Westgate-on-Sea is a coastal town near Margate which offers a sandy beach, arcades, Dreamland amusement park, shops and restaurant plus the renowned Turner Contemporary gallery. Botany Bay is in Thanet and is a popular film location due to its blue flag beach almost 200m long with stunning chalk cliffs and rock pools. The Thanet area has previously featured on screen in productions such as The Lady in the Van (2015), True Love (2012) and Ruby Blue (2007).
Humans series 2 starts on Sunday 30th October at 21:00 on Channel 4.
Director: A.L. Vijay
Writer: Mike Parish, A.L. Vijay
Starring: Vikram, Jagapathi Babu, Anushka Shetty, Lakshmi Rai, Amy Jackson
Production Company: UTV Motion Pictures
Kent Locations Used: Botany Bay
Thaandavam (2012) is a Tamil film directed by A.L. Vijay (Thalaivaa, Deiva Thirumagal) and is a mix of action, thriller and sci-fi with traditional Indian song and dance. The film stars some big Bollywood names and is about a blind man who has a special ‘Echolocation’ power on a revenge mission. It is one of the first Indian films to have shot action scenes using Hollywood technology and techniques.
The Thaandavam crew came to Botany Bay back in April 2012, and the stunning beach was used for a dance sequence with a sand artist.
Botany Bay is in Thanet and is a popular film location due to its blue flag beach almost 200m long with stunning chalk cliffs and rock pools. Productions that have previously filmed at the location include Series 1 of the Sky Atlantic comedy Hunderby (2012), BBC drama True Love (2012), and ITV’s The Fixer (2008).
Thaandavam was released in UK cinemas on Thursday 27th September 2012. It is now available to stream on Netflix.
