Starring: Tom Allen, Liam Charles, Cherish Finden, and Benoit Blin
Kent Locations Used: Tunbridge Wells
Bake Off: The Professionals is back on Channel 4! The series is a baking competition, which features teams of pastry chefs competing against each other through various challenges.
Hosting the show will be comedian Tom Allen who previously appeared on BBC Three series Josh and So You Think You’re Funny. Joining him will be former Bake-Off contestant Liam Charles. Judging will be top pastry chefs Cherish Finden and Benoit Blin.
There will be ten episodes in total, and in episode one we see contestants Chris and Bjarni work at The Warren restaurant, Tunbridge Wells and forage in the nearby forest.
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!
This new two-and-a-half-hour special for ITV pulls on its hiking boots for a countdown of Britain’s favourite walks. Britain’s Favourite Walks: Top 100, presented by Julia Bradbury (Countryfile) and Ore Oduba (The One Show), showcases the finest rambles, scrambles and ambles across the countryside and through cities to bring viewers the ultimate guide to the British outdoors.
Based on the results of the largest survey ever conducted, the top 100 have been voted for by more than 8,000 walking enthusiasts. Famous faces, including Ade Edmondson, Janet Street Porter and Robert Bathurst hit the trails to reveal their own favourites, joined by walking experts, nature aficionados and members of the public with extraordinary stories to provide a vivid insight into the the history of the trails.
The programme visits various locations in Kent on two walks, firstly the Ramsgate to Margate Walk featuring beautiful spots such as Kingsgate Bay and Botany Bay. The second walk, the Dover to Deal Walk features the stunning National Trust sites of the stunning White Cliffs of Dover and the charming South Foreland Lighthouse, as well as picturesque St Margarets at Cliffe and Deal.
The Kent Coastline is a popular location with TV productions for its dramatic scenery and convenient connections by road to London. Most recently it played a starring role in Sky Atlantic’s The Tunnel: Vengeance 2017 filmed entirely in Kent and Calais.
Kent Locations Used: Oakdene Cafe, London Road, Wrotham
ITV’s new drama series Next Of Kin follows whip-smart GP Mona Shirani who lives in London with political lobbyist husband Guy Harcourt. Family life is shattered when Mona’s brother is brutally murdered whilst working for a medical charity abroad. In the wake of the murder, Mona’s family comes under suspicion and is drawn deep into a tangle of betrayal and conspiracy as they try to protect their loved ones and careers.
The six-part series was written and created by husband and wife team Paul Rutman (Indian Summers, Vera) and Natasha Narayan. Emmy Award winner and Golden Globe nominee, Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife, The Fall), and renowned actor, Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean, Smash), star in Mammoth Screen’s fast-paced family thriller, Next Of Kin.
Oakdene Cafe, London Road in Wrotham Kent features in Episode 4 where filming took place in June 2017. Wrotham is a village on the Pilgrims’ Way in Kent, at the foot of the North Downs. It is one mile north of Borough Green and approximately five miles east Sevenoaks, a historic market town which has attracted several large productions in 2017 including Judwaa 2 (2017) and The Big Family Cooking Showdown (2017).
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.
Kent locations used: The Production was based in the County and locations are across East Kent and France
The Tunnel: Vengeance returns for its final and third series this December. The six-part crime-thriller is set against the backdrop of a refugee crisis in Europe, which leads British detective Karl (Stephen Dillane) to partner with Elise (Clémence Poésy) from the French National Gendarmerie. Together they investigate crimes such as the setting alight of a fishing vessel transporting refugees across the Channel. The series examines themes of terrorism, refugees and the rise of far-right political groups.
East Kent is home to spectacular coastal landscapes and historic towns, and boasts excellent transport links to London and western Europe. East Kent has been used for filming by productions such as Liar (2017) and Humans: Series 2 (2016).
Don’t miss the return of The Tunnel: Vengeance, with all the episodes available on Thursday 14 December on Sky Atlantic at 9pm.
Kent Locations used: Hythe Seabrook, Folkestone, Dover, St Margarets at Cliffe, Deal, Reinden Woods, Pedlinge, Elham, Chillenden , Canterbury, Densole, Great Chart, Ashford, Sittingbourne.
Coast v Country is a brand new property format for Channel 4, which showcases the most striking properties for sale in some of Kent’s most beautiful coast & countryside locations. The series is presented by property experts Sara Damergi, Kerr Drummond and property developers Kirsty Duffy and David Bull.
Dover is the site of the famous white cliffs of Dover and has been used in films such as Sherlock Holmes, a game of shadows (2011) and those magnificent men and their flying machines (1965)
Another well-known location, Canterbury Cathedral, is the oldest and most renowned cathedral in England; currently a world heritage site it has been previously used to film Last Orders (2002) and a Canterbury Tale (1944)
The new series of Coast v Country starts on Monday 30th October at 4pm on Channel 4.
Episodes which feature Kent are due to air on 2nd, 22nd and 24th November 2017.
The Big Family Cooking Showdown is a brand new BBC cooking competition series where families compete to be the best home cooks. In
The Big Family Cooking Showdown – (C) Voltage TV Productions
each episode, two teams consisting of three family members, who compete in three cooking challenges. At the end of the three rounds, the judges select a winner for the quarter finals where they will face winners from other episodes.
The presenters of the series are Zoe Ball (Strictly Come Dancing) and Nadiya Hussain (winner of The Great British Bake Off in 2015). The judges of the series are Giorgio Locatelli (Italy Unpacked) and Rosemary Shrager (The Real Marigold Hotel).
The Quadrangle Trust in Shoreham, Sevenoaks, the building was transformed into a competition kitchen for the show and featured prominently in the series.
Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast (2016) was also filmed at The Quadrangle Trust in Shoreham. Other productions filmed in the Sevenoaks area include Good Enough to Eat and Rip Off Britain (2009).
The Big Family Cooking Showdown premiered on 15 August 2017, and the next episode will be released on Thursday 21 September 2017 on BBC Two.
Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams is a sci-fi anthology series with stand-alone episodes that focus on dark themes and ideas with a twist. The first season will contain 10 episodes of adapted material from Philip K. Dick’s body of literary work.
Source material from Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner) stories, directed by, among others, Michael Dinner (The Crew), David Farr (The Ones Below), Francesca Gregorini (The Truth About Emanuel) and Tom Harper (Peaky Blinders). The first season stars Timothy Spall (Mr Turner, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Gumuliauskas Vaclovas (The Death of Stalin), Juke Hardy (Alien: Covenant), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones) and Steve Buscemi (Fargo, Boardwalk Empire) as well as many others.
Some scenes from the upcoming series were filmed in Dungeness on the south coast of Kent. The area has been used in the past for many different films and TV series. Previous productions filmed in Dungeness include: Una (2017) and Doctor Who: The Claws of Axos (1971). The Pilot Inn in Dungeness previously featured in the The Poison Tree (2012)
Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams premieres on Sunday 17 September 2017 on Channel 4 at 9PM.
