The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Suffragettes – How Women Won the Vote (2018)

Posted on by Kent Film Office
Portrait of three suffragettes characters in formal clothing at Commissioner's House with stairs in the background. The centre characters is looking at the camera whilst the two on the outside are looking in the distance.

Image of Suffragettes ©BBC

 

Director: Emma Frank

Starring: Lucy Worsley

Production Company: Brook Lapping Productions

Kent Locations Used: Chatham Dockyard, Commissioner’s House, Tarred Yarn Store, Captains House and the ropey foot tunnel, as well as the Assistant Queens Harbourmaster’s House.

Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley is part of a group of BBC programmes marking the 100s anniversary of women gaining the vote in the UK.

In this drama documentary, Lucy Worsley explores, a group of less well known, but equally astonishing, young working-class suffragettes who decided to go against the rules and expectations of Edwardian society.

Worsley reveals what life was like for young women, what drove them to break the law and how they used their own PR to counteract the negative portrayals they received from the press of the day.

Lucy Worsley has been a writer and presenter for Our Food (2012), A Very British Romance (2015) and If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home (2011).

Scenes from Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley was filmed in various locations at The Historic Dockyard Chatham, such as the Commissioner’s House, the Tarred Yarn Store, the Captains House and Ropery foot tunnel, as well as the Assistant Queens Harbourmaster’s House.

Suffragettes by Lucy Worsley airs on BBC1, Monday 4th June at 20.30.

To see the official trailer visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_Y2e79lBTw

 

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

The Royals (2016 – 2018)

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The three main characters standing in a row facing the camera in front of a white background, blue and red stripes cover them, the words The Royals written in white

©E! Entertainment

Creator: Mark Schwahn
Starring: Elizabeth Hurley, William Mosely, Alexandra Park, Jake Maskall, Tom Austen
Production Company: Mastermind Laboratories, Varsity Pictures, Lionsgate Television, Universal Cable Productions
Kent Locations Used: Allington Castle, Boughton Monchelsea Place, The Historic Dockyard Chatham, Tunbridge Wells

Set in modern-day London, The Royals (2015-2018) follows the lives and scandals of a fictional British Royal family.

The show was created by Mark Schwahn (Coach Carter, One Tree Hill) and the ensemble cast includes Elizabeth Hurley (Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Bedazzled) as Queen Elena, William Mosely (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Carrie Pilby) as Prince Liam, Alexandra Park (Ben is Back, Home and Away) as Princess Eleanor, Jake Maskall (Eastenders, Centurion) as Cyrus and Tom Austen (Grantchester, Helstrom) as Jasper.

For Series 2, the production made use of two locations in Kent: Boughton Monchelsea Place and Allington Castle. Boughton Monchelsea Place can be seen in Episode 3 as the manor house that Princess Eleanor and Jasper visit. Allington Castle features in Episode 7, as the Henstridge residence that Princess Eleanor and Queen Helena visit.

The Historic Dockyard Chatham features in various episodes of Series 4. The Tarred Yarn Store was used to represent the interior of a house in India which Princess Eleanor and Sebastian (Toby Sandeman) are restoring. King Robert (Max Brown) leaves on HMS Cavalier. The gardens of the Commissioner’s House feature as the meeting place for Prince Liam and his ex Kathryn (Christina Wolfe). External street scenes, including a protest, were filmed around the Ropery.

Filming for Series 4 also took place in Tunbridge Wells, on Chapel Place, as part of a Royal Wedding. Unfortunately, this scene did not appear to make the final cut.

The Royals screenshot at Allington Castle - a woman riding a horse into a castle

The Royals screenshot at Allington Castle © Lionsgate Home Entertainment

The Royals screenshot at Boughton Monchelsea - a manor house with people outside

The Royals screenshot at Boughton Monchelsea © Lionsgate Home Entertainment

Boughton Monchelsea Place is a 16th Century manor house set within 15 miles of countryside to the south of Maidstone and has been featured in The Carer (2016) and Half Broken Things (2007).

Allington Castle is privately owned and situated on the banks of the River Medway and was previously on screen in Covington Cross (1992) and The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood (1984).

A historic 17th-Century dockyard spanning over 80 acres, Chatham Dockyard contains over 100 buildings dating from the Georgian and Victorian Periods. It is the most popular filming location in Kent, having played host to many high-profile films and TV shows, including The Crown (2016-2022), Victoria & Abdul (2017) and Holmes & Watson (2018).

Set in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Tunbridge Wells is a historic spa town that offers a mix of independent shops and restaurants set alongside the colonnaded Pantiles and the picturesque High Street. The area is renowned for its historic houses and gardens and has been a place of interest for over 400 years. Other productions to have filmed there include Rupert, Rupert & Rupert (2019), Series 3 of Britannia (2021), and The Cleaner (2021).

The second series of The Royals began airing on Wednesday 10th February 2016 on E!

Series 4 of The Royals began airing on Sunday 11th March 2018 on E!

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

The Mercy (2018)

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Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz in The Mercy Official Poster close up of faces looking into distance. The Mercy written in white

Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz in The Mercy (2018) ©Studio Canal

Writer: Scott Z. Burns

Director: James Marsh

Starring: Colin Firth, Rachel Weisz, David Thewlis, Mark Gatiss

Production Company: Blueprint Pictures

Kent Locations Used: Chatham Dockyard and Bewl Water

Colin Firth in The Mercy standing on boat with mast behind. He wears a pale blue shirt and cream trousers.

Colin Firth in The Mercy (2018 ) ©Studio Canal

The film tells the true story of Donald Crowhurst (Colin Firth), a yachtsman who went missing during his attempt to win the 1968 Golden Globe Race when he decided to turn his attempt into a disastrous attempt of travelling the world alone by sea.

Directed by James Marsh (The Theory of Everything, Shadow Dancer) and written by Scott Z. Burns (Contagion, The Bourne Ultimatum). The film stars Colin Firth (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy),  Rachel Weisz (The Mummy, Oz the Great and Powerful), David Thewlis (Wonder Woman, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,) and Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen, Sherlock).

Rachel Weisz in The Mercy 2018. Rachel and 3 children stand against a harbour wall looking out to see.

Rachel Weisz in The Mercy 2018 ©Studio Canal

 

 

Some scenes were filmed at The Historic Dockyard Chatham, where the HMS Gannet was used as the port where the wives of the competition sailors posed for the press. As well as filming at Bewl Water reservoir in Kent, which features as the Teignmouth inlet where Donald Crowhurst (Colin Firth) sails locally alone and with his family. The Historic Dockyard with its Victorian and Georgian architecture has featured in films such as Victoria and Abdul (2017) and Guy Ritchies’ Mr Holmes (2015). Bewl Water is the largest body of inland water in the South East and situated within the High Weald, an area of outstanding natural beauty.

 

 

The Mercy will be in theatres in the UK from the 9th February 2018.

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

 

Victoria and Abdul (2017)

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Queen Victoria sitting at table writing with Abdul standing next to hear looking down

Victoria and Abdul © Focus Features

Writer:  Lee Hall, based on the book Victoria & Abdul by Shrabani Basu

Director: Stephen Frears

Starring: Dame Judi Dench, Ali Fazal, Olivia Williams, Michael Gambon and Eddie Izzard

Production Company: BBC Films, Working Title Films

Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Queen Victoria and Abdul walking on tree lined pathway

Victoria and Abdul © Focus Features

 

The BBC’s newest biopic feature, Victoria and Abdul, tells the story of the unlikely friendship between Queen Victoria (Dame Judi Dench) and her servant Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal). The film is based on the book Victoria &Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant, by Shrabani Basu.

Dame Judi Dench stars as Queen Victoria and Ali Fazal as Abdul Karim (Fast and Furious 7 and 3 Idiots). The supporting cast include Olivia Williams

(The Sixth Sense and An Education), Michael Gambon (The Harry Potter Series and Sleepy Hollow), Eddie Izzard (Valkyrie and Ocean’s Thirteen) and Adeel Akhtar (The Dictator and Pan).

The production filmed at The Historic Dockyard Chatham on The HMS Gannet and the quayside adjacent to the ship.

With over 100 Georgian and Victorian buildings, spread over 80 acres, The Historic Dockyard Chatham is one of Kent’s most popular filming locations. Some of the productions that have filmed at The Historic Dockyard Chatham include, Call the Midwife (2012-present), Downton Abbey (2013) and Les Misérables (2013)

Victoria and Abdul will be released in cinemas on Friday 15th September 2017.

 

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

Harlots (2017)

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Charlotte Wells [Jessica Brown Findlay] and Daniel Marney [Rory Fleck-Byrne] © Monumental Television

Creators: Alison Newman, Moira Buffini
Writers: Moira Buffini, Jane English, Cat Jones, Debbie O’Malley
Starring: Samantha Morton, Jessica Brown Findlay, Lesley Manville, Eloise Smyth, Holli Dempsey, Kate Fleetwood
Production Company: Monumental Pictures, Independent Television (ITV)
Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Already hotly debated in the press, ITV’s risqué eight part series, Harlots (2017-2019), takes us back to London 1763 when one in five women sold their body. The story follows brothel owner Margaret Wells (Samantha Morton), her daughters Charlotte (Jessica Brown Findlay) and Lucy (Eloise Smyth) and their rival, Madam Lydia Quigley (Lesley Manville).

Marie-Louise D’Aubigne (Poppy Corby-Teuch) and three friends sitting in a row of chairs with curtains behind

Marie-Louise D’Aubigne (Poppy Corby-Teuch) and other Harlots © Monumental Television

The series was inspired by Jack Harris’ stories collected in Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies, a directory that contained a list of prostitutes, with their age, price and ‘specialities’.

The new drama stars Samantha Morton (The Walking Dead, Minority Report) as Margaret Wells, Jessica Brown Findlay (Victor Frankenstein (2015), Brave New World (2020)) as Charlotte Wells, Lesley Manville (Mr Turner (2014), All or Nothing (2002)) as Lydia Quigley, Eloise Smyth (The Frankenstein Chronicles, Fortitude) as Lucy Wells, Holli Dempsey (Derek (2013), The Aliens) as Emily Lacey and Kate Fleetwood (Victoria, The Wheel of Time) as Nancy Birch.

The Tarred Yarn Store at Chatham Dockyard was used as the interior and exterior of a riverside tavern in Series One.

The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a popular filming location with variety of Georgian and Victorian architecture, maritime environment, dry dock, cobbled streets and industrial buildings. Call the Midwife (2012-2022), SS-GB (2017) and The Crown (2016-2020) are just a few of the productions that were filmed at The Historic Dockyard Chatham.

Harlots premieres on ITV Encore on Monday 27th March at 10:00PM and on Hulu on Wednesday 29th March.

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

SS-GB (2017)

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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. 

The Halcyon (2017)

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The Halcyon cast standing in a hall on a small staircase,

The Halcyon © ITV

Writer: Charlotte Jones

Starring: Kara Tointon, Steven Mackintosh, Alex Jennings, Olivia Williams, Jamie Blackley, Edward Bluemel, Hermione Corfield, and Matt Ryan

Production Company: Left Bank Pictures, ITV

Kent Locations Used: The Ropery and Anchor Wharf at The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Set in the 1940s, ITV’s The Halcyon charts the lives of staff and guests in a five-star hotel during World War II. The story is told from the point of view of Joe O’Hara (Matt Ryan), an American journalist and illustrates how the war permeated all areas of London life; be it that of the guests seeking an escape from the war or the forbidden love affair of the hotel’s resident jazz singer, Betsy (Kara Tointon). Samuel Sim’s soundtrack punctuates the action with sultry jazz tunes, and will be released the day the show airs.

The Halcyon brings together an incredible ensemble cast, including Kara Tointon (Eastenders, The Sound of Music Live!), Alex Jennings (The Queen, Babel) and Olivia Williams (The Sixth Sense, An Education), Steven Mackintosh (Stan Lee’s Lucky Man, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), Sope Dirisu (Undercover, Humans) and Matt Ryan (Constantine, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour).

Exterior scenes of bombed London streets were shot at The Ropery and on Anchor Wharf, at  The Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent.

Set over 80 acres in the Medway area of Kent, The Historic Dockyard Chatham has more than  100 Georgian and Victorian buildings as well as cobbled streets and dock spaces. The Historic Dockyard Chatham has previously welcomed filming from The Crown (2016), Partners in Crime  (2015) and Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows  (2011).

The Halcyon premiered on Monday 2nd January 2017 at 21:00 on ITV

 

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

 

 

Close To The Enemy (2016)

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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. 

 

Future Tense: The Story of H.G. Wells (2016)

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Time machine at The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Time machine at The Historic Dockyard Chatham © BBC South East

Production Company: BBC South East

Kent Locations Used: Sandgate, Folkestone, The Historic Dockyard Chatham, St Clere Estate, Sevenoaks

To mark H.G. Wells’ 150th birthday, Future Tense: The Story of H.G. Wells, presented by Dominic Sandbrook, discovers how a sleepy corner of the country inspired some of the most fantastic ideas in science fiction.

The BBC South East production team filmed at Sandgate beach and Wells House in Folkestone, The Historic Dockyard Chatham which is doubles as The Time Machine Workshop and St Clere Estate in Sevenoaks. They also filmed in East Sussex, Surrey and London.

Folkestone is a seaside town with an elegant clifftop promenade, a lower coastal park, a fishing harbour and Victorian cliff-top lifts. The area has featured in a wide range of productions including The Tunnel: Sabotage (2016), Lifeline (2012) and Is Anybody There? (2009).

The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a 17th century dockyard set over 80 acres, containing over 100 buildings dating from the Georgian and Victorian Periods. It has been used extensively for filming, appearing in productions such as Rustom (2016), Partners in Crime (2015) and The World is Not Enough (1999).

Set across 2,800 acres of the rolling Kent countryside, St Clere Estate offers stunning views of the North Downs. The house itself was built in 1630 and has some fine architectural examples of the Caroline era. St Clere Estate has been previously featured on screen in Road Games (2016) and The Mirror Crack’d (1980).

Future Tense: The Story of H.G. Wells will air on Friday 16th September 2016 at 19.30 on BBC One South East can be found wherever you are in the country: Sky Channel 963, FreeSat 959, Freeview 858.

 

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

 

Level Up (2016)

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Level Up poster - animation of a man holding a gun with Level Up wirtten in red

Level Up poster © Fulwell 73, Independent, Quickfire Films

Writers: Adam Randall, Gary Young

Director: Adam Randall

Starring: Josh Bowman, Neil Maskell, William Houston, Leila Mimmack

Production Company: Fulwell 73, Independent, Quickfire Films

Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Level Up is a thriller about Matt (Josh Bowman), a young, unambitious man whose world changes instantly when his girlfriend is kidnapped. Forced to make his way across an increasingly sinister London, Matt tries to save his girlfriend, but will he succeed?

Written by Gary Young (Harry Brown, Vera) and Adam Randall (iBoy, Hooded), who also directs, the film was produced by Danny Potts (Piggy, The Guvnors) and stars Josh Bowman (Revenge, Prowl), Neil Maskell (Humans, The Football Factory), William Houston (Sherlock Holmes, Clash of the Titans), Leila Mimmack (Home Fires, High-Rise) and Christina Wolfe (Need for Speed, Fury).

The production largely filmed in London but also visited The Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent where they used a warehouse in the ropery for the final scenes of the film where Matt (Josh Bowman) looks for his girlfriend.

The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a 17th century dockyard set over 80 acres with more than 100 period buildings, dry docks, submarines and period streets.One of Kent’s most popular film locations, The Historic Dockyard Chatham has previously featured in Rustom (2016), Mr Turner (2014) and Oliver Twist (2007).

Level Up is available on DVD and online download.

 

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