Strood

Unforgotten Series 4 & 6 (2021-2025)

Posted on by Kent Film Office
Sanjeev Bhaskar as DI Sunny Khan and Sinead Keenan as DCI Jess James standing in marshland. Bhaskar is wearing a black jacket, pink shirt and red spotty tie and Keenan is wearing black trousers and a green silk shirt.

Unforgotten Series 6 (2025) © ITV

Writer: Chris Lang
Starring: Sanjeev Bhaskar, Jordan Long, Carolina Main, Hiten Patel, Nicola Walker, Lewis Reeves, Peter Egan, Pippa Nixon
Production company: Mainstreet Pictures
Kent Locations Used: Rochester City, Rochester Cathedral, Deal, Kingsdown Leas

Unforgotten (2021-2025) is a murder mystery series set in London, following a team of London detectives as they investigate and attempt to unravel unsolved cold cases.

The series was created by the award winning Chris Lang (Innocent, A Mother’s Son) and stars Sanjeev Bhaskar (Yesterday, Absolutely Anything) as DI Sunny Khan, Jordan Long (The Gentlemen, Stardust) as DS Murray Boulting, Carolina Main (Fan, Blood) as DC Fran Lingley, Hiten Patel (Animal (2023), This England) as DC Patel, Nicola Walker (Spooks, Four Weddings and a Funeral) who stars as DCI Cassie Stuart. until her departure in Series 4, Lewis Reeves (I May Destroy You, The Midwich Cuckoos) as DC Jake Collier, Peter Egan (The Wedding Date, Chariots of Fire) as Martin Hughes and Pippa Nixon (Angela Black, MotherFatherSon) as DC Karen Willetts.

For Series 4, filming took place in the historic city of Rochester, featuring Rochester Cathedral and marina.

The team returned to Kent for Series 6, filming in Deal, with locations including Deal Pier, the beach, St George’s Church and various roads. Filming also took place on the Kingsdown Leas.

Rochester is a city in Medway with the feel of a medieval market town, with cathedral, castle ruins and unspoilt high street by the River Medway. Bollywood feature Veer (2010) and the Series 6 of The Crown (2016-2023) filmed in Rochester.

The coastal town of Deal has a long naval history and is one of the corporate limbs of the cinque ports along the south coast. The Pier is a significant local landmark and public amenity offering excellent views of the town. It is internationally recognised as an angling venue. Recent productions to have filmed in Deal include Pistol (2022), Liar (2017-2020) and Big Boys Don’t Cry (2020).

Kingsdown, located just up the coast from the White Cliffs of Dover, has a secluded shingle beach, with plenty of benches suitable for picnics. Other productions to have filmed here include After Love (2021) and Baptiste (2019).

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

Series 6 of Unforgotten (2021-2025) aired on ITV from Sunday 9th February 2025 and is available to stream on ITVX.

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

The Fitzroy (2017)

Posted on by Kent Film Office
Cerith Flinn as Bernard sits at a rickety wooden shack on a sandy beach. The shack’s sign reads ‘The Fitzroy’ and Bernard is wearing a red bellboy uniform.

Cerith Flinn in The Fitzroy (2017) © Angus Young / Dresden Pictures

Writer / Director: Andrew Harmer
Starring: Cerith Flinn, Jan Anderson, Kenneth Collard, David Gant
Production Company: Dresden Pictures
Kent Locations Used: Black Widow submarine, St Mary’s Bay

Set in an alternative post-apocalyptic 1950s, The Fitzroy (2017) centres on Bernard, the bellboy and general dogsbody of the Fitzroy Hotel, a decaying submarine just off the coast of Margate – the last place left for a traditional British summer holiday. Bernard faces a constant battle to keep the hotel, and its guests, afloat.

Written and directed by Andrew Harmer (Biopunk), the film stars Cerith Flinn (Eastenders (2007-2023), Wolfblood) as Bernard, Jan Anderson (Casualty, Human Traffic) as Sonya, Kenneth Collard (Cuckoo, The Regime) as The Inspector and David Gant (Braveheart, Brazil) as Mr Thompson.

Kenneth Collard as The Inspector and David Schaal as Cecil standing inside a submarine. Collard is wearing a black suit and Schaal is wearing a blue striped shirt over a white T-shirt. He is also holding a teacup and saucer.

Kenneth Collard and David Schaal in The Fitzroy (2017) © Angus Young / Dresden Pictures

Some scenes of The Fitzroy hotel were filmed onboard the Black Widow submarine, which is docked in Strood. Production also filmed scenes on the beach at St Mary’s Bay, which doubled for the post-apocalyptic Margate beach where the hotel’s check-in desk is located.

The Black Widow is a Russian submarine originally built in the 1960s and decommissioned in 1994. It is complete and internally has all its equipment, tools, and even personal belongings from when it was in service. It is 92m long and 7.5m wide and moored in Strood. Previously, the submarine was used for Black Sea (2014).

Situated on the Romney Marsh, St Mary’s Bay is a coastal village with a long sandy beach stretching from Littlestone to Dymchurch.

The Fitzroy (2017) was first shown at the London Sci-Fi and Fantasy Festival on Saturday 29th April 2017 and is now available to stream on Amazon Prime.

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

Doctor Who – The Mutants (1972)

Posted on by Kent Film Office
Jon Pertwee inside Chilslehurst Cave talking to a man with a torch

Jon Pertwee as Doctor Who at Chislehurst Caves © BBC

Director: Christopher Barry
Starring: Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning, Paul Whitsun-Jones, James Mellor, Garrick Hagon
Production Company: BBC
Kent Locations Used: Bluewater Quarry, Chislehurst Caves, Stone House Farm Caves

The Mutants (1972) is a six-part story of popular sci-fi show Doctor Who starring Jon Pertwee. The Doctor and his companion, Jo, arrive at Skybase One during the 30th century when the planet, Solos is fighting for independence from the Earth’s empire. However, the natives have started to mutate in to hideous looking creatures and the doctor needs to find out why.

Jon Pertwee (Carry On Cleo, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) stars as the third Doctor alongside Katy Manning (Gloria’s House, Evil Never Dies) as his companion Jo, Paul Whitsun-Jones (The Quatermass Experiment, Huntingtower), James Mellor (Marat/Sade, The Oblong Box) and Garrick Hagon (Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

The production visited Bluewater Quarry which was the setting for the planet Solos prior to the shopping centre being built. The quarry began in the early 19th century and was then rapidly enlarged for cement production in the 1950’s; however it then closed down in the 1980’s and is now Bluewater shopping centre.

Chislehurst Caves also feature and doubled as the interior Solos’ caves. Chislehurst Caves are man-made and 22 miles long, initially dug as chalk and flint mines and are believed to have been last worked in during the 1830’s. The first mention of the mines was in 1250, during World War II when the caves became an air raid shelter for 15000 people with electrical lighting, a chapel and a hospital. The caves are now a tourist attraction and have been used for TV series Merlin (2008) and film The Riddle (2007).

The production also visited Stone House Farm Caves which represented the cave system entrance on Solos. It is situated near Strood in a field next to Lower Rochester Road. The caves are thought to be old chalk mines. The Medway area has previously been seen on screen in Jekyll and Hyde (2015), Great Expectations (2012) and Canterbury Tales (2003).

Doctor Who: The Mutants (1972) originally aired on BBC1 from Saturday 8th April 1972 to Saturday 13th May 1972 and is now available to buy on DVD.

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