Starring: Zoe Pocock and Danny Sebastian Production Company: Hello Halo Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham
CBeebies Junk Rescue (2018-) is back! The series shows how the things we throw away can be turned into something useful, through combining traditional crafts and creative child-led makes.
The Kent episode Frayed Yarn, involves Danny, Zoe, and their Junkyard Helpers finding some frayed yarn in the junkyard. Zoe and the helpers then make something out of sewing leftovers.
Set on the River Medway, The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a popular film location. It offers Georgian and Victorian architecture, maritime environment, dry dock, cobbled streets, and industrial buildings. The Dockyard has previously featured in TV productions such as the Hetty Feather series (2015-2020).
Junk Rescue can be seen on CBeebies on Monday 27th May 2019 at 4.10pm and episodes will air daily till Friday 31st May 2019, ending with the Kent episode.
Director: Andy Hall Starring: Hannah Fry Production Company: Academy 7 Productions Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham
Victorian Sensations (2019) is a brand-new three-part series, which explores the thrilling era of the 1890s, a period of rapid discovery and change.
In the first episode, ‘Electric Dreams’, mathematician Dr Hannah Fry (Size Matters, Horizon) investigates how science and technology transformed Britain during this time, giving rise to the modern world, as well as many present-day anxieties.
Victorian Sensations can be seen on BBC Four on Wednesday 22nd May 2019 at 9pm. The Kent episode, Electric Dreams, will be the first of the three episodes to air.
Writer: Stephen Poliakoff Director: Stephen Poliakoff Starring: Toby Woolf, Suanne Braun, Keeley Hawes, Linus Roache, Timothy Spall, Toby Stephens Production Company: Little Island Productions Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyards, Chatham
Set in London during the height of the Cold War, Summer of Rockets (2019) is a drama based on true events amid with growing tensions across Europe. At the time, the UK tested its first hydrogen bomb, the Soviets launched their first ballistic missile, and the space race between America and the Soviet Union had begun.
The streets outside the Ropery in The Historic Dockyard Chatham were used to film the 1950s civil defence exercise in the series and the upper floors of the Ropery itself featured as civil defence training rooms.
Summer of Rockets can be seen on BBC Two on Wednesday 22nd May 2019 at 9pm. After this, episodes will then be shown every Wednesday for the next six weeks.
Writer: Nicole Perlman and Rob Letterman Director: Rob Letterman Starring: Ryan Reynolds (voice), Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, Rita Ora, Ken Watanabe, Bill Nighy Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary, The Pokémon Company Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham
Based upon the Nintendo video game and later a tv anime and interactive App, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu is a feature film combining live elements and animation. The story centres on Tim (Justice Smith) who is looking for his missing father in the metropolis of Rhyme City in the Kanto Region. Accompanying him on this quest is Pokémon Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds) and together they find some dark secrets in the city.
Writer: Lindsay Shapero Director: Trevor Nunn Starring: Sophie Cookson, Tom Hughes, Judi Dench Production Company: Trademark Films Kent Locations Used: Historic Dockyard Chatham
Feature film Red Joan (2019) follows the life of the KGB’s longest-serving British spy, Joan Stanley (Judi Dench). Sophie Cookson plays Joan in her younger years, when, as a Soviet and communist party sympathizer, she is recruited by the KGB while employed as a British government civil servant. She successfully hands over information about the manufacture of nuclear arms which allows the Soviet Union to keep up with NATO in the arms race, managing to remain undetected for over half a century.
Writer:Etan Cohen Director: Etan Cohen Starring: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Ralph Fiennes Production Company: Columbia Pictures Corporation, Gary Sanchez Productions, Mosaic Media Group, Mimran Schur Pictures Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham
Holmes & Watson (2018) is a comedic revision of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic mysteries and his famed literary characters, detective Sherlock Holmes (Will Ferrell) and his sidekick, Dr John Watson (John C. Reilly). The pair join forces to investigate a murder at Buckingham Palace and learn that they have just four days to stop their arch enemy, Professor Moriarty (Ralph Fiennes), or the queen will become his next victim.
Holmes & Watson features several locations around The Historic Dockyard Chatham. The interior of the Tarred Yarn Store was transformed into a bar tavern, the interior of the Ropery played the role of a Boxing Club, while the streets around the Ropery and Anchor Wharf stood in as London streets and docks. Some external scenes were also filmed around Officers Terrace.
Writer / Director: Mike Leigh Starring: Rory Kinnear, Maxine Peake, Pearce Quigley Production Company: BFI Film Fund Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham and St Mary’s Marshes
Oscar nominated filmmaker Mike Leigh (Mr Turner) portrays one of England’s bloodiest episodes, the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. Government guards charged and attacked a peaceful protest held by 80,000 people in Manchester demanding democratic reform.
The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a well-known film location in Kent and has been used on many projects. Production used the Tarred Yarn Store and the exterior of the Ropery to double as a Cotton Mill in Manchester.
St Mary’s Marshes on the Isle of Grain appears in a short scene at the beginning of the film, a lonely figure walking along the marshes. The marshes are on the Isle of Grain, between the River Thames and the River Medway. The Medway area has been used in various TV Series and films such as Black Sea (2014).
The film will be released in the UK on 2nd November 2018.
Starring: Olivia Cooke, Suranne Jones, Martin Clunes
Production Company: Mammoth Screen
Kent Locations Used: Deal, Dover, Sevenoaks and Medway
This new ITV series is an adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s classic Victorian novel Vanity Fair. Set in the time of the Napoleonic wars, it follows the life of a beautiful and determined woman named Becky Sharp (Olivia Cooke) as she attempts to claw her way out of poverty and climb straight to the top of 19th century English Society.
Starring Olivia Cooke (Ready Player One, Bates Motel) as the antihero Becky Sharp, Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster, Scott and Bailey) as Miss Pinkerton, Martin Clunes (Doc Martin, Men Behaving Badly) as Sir Pitt Crawley, Michael Palin (Monty Python, Remember Me) as Thackeray, Tom Bateman (Snatched, Into The Dark) as Captain Rawdon Crawley.
A cottage on Chevening House Estate was used for filming and featured as Rawdons’ (Tom Bateman) Cottage. This location is situated at the foot of the North Downs in Sevenoaks with extensive parkland surrounding it. It is set aside for official Government business.
A scene on the promenade, featuring soldiers and horses was filmed outside the Royal Hotel in Deal. The town is situated on the South Coast of Kent and has a longstanding naval history as one of the major Cinque Ports and many period features remain.
Squerryes Court in Sevenoaks was also used for filming Miss Pinkertons’ (Suranne Jones) school interiors. This location is a beautiful 17th century manor house which has been in the residence of the Warde family since 1731. It is surrounded with 20 acres of attractive and historic gardens which includes a lake and 18th century dovecote. Previous films that have used this location are The Hollow Crown: Henry V (2012) and The Boat that Rocked (2009).
The Historic Chatham Dockyard was also used. Production filmed various London street scenes outside the Ropery, as well as Anchor Wharf for an embarkation to France and the interior of Commissioners House. The Historic Chatham Dockyard built many ships for the Royal Navy over the last 400 years, including HMS Victory, and it is the home of the Royal Rope Makers, having produced ropes since 1618. It is a popular filming location which offers many period locations, authentic cobbled streets and three historic warships. The Dockyard has previously been featured in films such as Suffragette (2015) and Mr Turner (2014).
Vanity Fair begins on 2nd September 2018 at 9pm on ITV, with episode two airing the next day, on Monday (3rd September 2018). It will then continue for 5 Sunday nights at 9pm.
Starring: Mariella Frostrup and Rev. Richard Coles
Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard, Chatham
The Big Painting Challenge is back on the BBC! Presented by Mariella Frostrup and Rev. Richard Coles, along with artistic mentors Pascal Anson and Diana Ali, the programme search nationwide for the best up-and-coming amateur artists.
For the finale the production chose The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, where the first challenge was to paint a self-portrait followed by the masterclasses, all in the Tarred Yarn Store. The Final challenge meant the contestants were able to choose any motif and, unsurprisingly, there were a few paintings of ships that made it to the final exhibition in Slip 3.
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.
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.
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!
