WWII

Blitz (2024)

Posted on by Kent Film Office
Saoirse Ronan as Rita hugging Elliott Heffernan as George. Their images are dissolving into daisies. On the right-hand side of the image is the AppleTV logo and the word Blitz.

Blitz (2024) © AppleTV

Director: Steve McQueen
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Elliott Heffernan, Harris Dickinson, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller, Stephen Graham
Production Company: Apple Studios, Lammas Park, New Regency Productions, Working Title Films
Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Blitz (2024) is a historical drama following a defiant young boy who, refusing to be separated from his mother, escapes from his evacuation to the countryside to make his way back. Hearing her boy is missing, his distressed mother begins her own search for him.

Directed by Steve McQueen (Small Axe (2020), 12 Years a Slave), the film stars Saoirse Ronan (Ammonite (2020), Mary Queen of Scots (2018)) as Rita, Elliott Heffernan in his debut as George, Harris Dickinson (Beach Rats, Triangle of Sadness) as Jack, Kathy Burke (Kevin & Perry Go Large (2000), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) as Beryl, Paul Weller (Grosse Pointe Blank, Spider-Man: Far from Home) as Gerald and Stephen Graham (Boiling Point, This Is England).

Production visited The Historic Dockyard Chatham to film various scenes in the Ropery buildings and Museum Square to double for London ravaged by bombs during the Blitz.

The Historic Dockyard Chatham is one of Kent’s most popular filming locations. Set on the River Medway, the Dockyard spans over 80 acres, containing over 100 buildings dating from the Georgian and Victorian periods. Other recent productions to have filmed at the Dockyard include Loki – Season 2 (2023), Secret Invasion (2023) and Living (2022).

Blitz (2024) will be released in UK Cinemas on Friday 1st November 2024 and will then be available to stream on AppleTV on Friday 22nd November 2024.

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

World On Fire – Series 1 (2019)

Posted on by Kent Film Office
Actor Jonah Hauer wearing a grey suit riding a bike with Zofia Wichlacz wearing a pink top and skirt sat in front of him. Cycling along a cobbled street with an army parade with horses behind them.

Zofia Wichlacz and Jonah Hauer-King in World On Fire ©BBC

Writer: Peter Bowker
Directors: Chanya Button, Adam Smith, Andy Wilson, Thomas Napper
Starring: Jonah Hauer-King, Zofia Wichlacz, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Helen Hunt, Sean Bean and Arthur Darvill
Production Company: BBC One, Mammoth Screen
Kent Locations Used: Historic Dockyard Chatham

Upcoming BBC seven-part drama series World On Fire (2019-), is a coming of age story set against the harsh conditions of World War II.

Written by Peter Bowker (Occupation, Eric & Ernie) directed by Chanya Button (Vita & Virginia), Adam Smith (Trespass Against Us), Andy Wilson (Cracker) and Thomas Napper (Jawbone). The drama series centers around the lives of ordinary people affected by the war starring Jonah Hauer-King (Postcards from London, Little Women) as Army soldier Harry Chase, Zofia Wichlacz (Warsaw ’44, Amok) as Kasia Tomaszeski and Yrsa Daley-Ward (White Colour Black, Der Koch) as Connie. Helen Hunt (As Good as It Gets, Mad About You) plays the role of an American news reporter Nancy Campbell based in Berlin, while Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones) is bus conductor and peace activist Douglas Bennett.

HMS Cavalier at The Historic Dockyard in Chatham was used as a major filming location in Episode 3 of the series playing the role of HMS Exeter during the first Naval battle of World War Two: Battle of River Plate.

Set on the River Medway, The Historic Dockyard Chatham has become a popular film location due to its unique Georgian and Victorian architecture, maritime environment, dry dock, cobbled streets, industrial buildings and collection of preserved naval vessels from different periods of the Royal Navy. The Dockyard has previously featured as a filming location set around the 1940s and 50s in a number of both British and international productions including Summer of Rockets (2019), The Halcyon (2018) and The Crown (2016).

The first episode of World on Fire aired on BBC One on Sunday 29th September 2019 and will also be available on Amazon Prime after the series has aired.

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

Hurricane (2018)

Posted on by Kent Film Office
Official Hurricane Movie Poster- Crashed plane at the bottom of the poster, three main characters at the centre of the poster in period clothing, planes and london skyline in background. Hurricane reads in the centre

Official Hurricane Movie Poster ©IMDb

Writers: Robert Ryan and Alastair Galbraith
Director: David Blair
Starring: Iwan Rheon, Milo Gibson, Stefanie Martini
Production Company: Head Gear Films
Kent Locations Used: Victoria Gardens & Stone Bay, Thanet

Hurricane (2018) is the story of Squadron 303, a group of courageous Polish soldiers who fought with British troops in the skies to defend England in WWII. The story is told through the eyes of Polish flying ace Jan Zumbach (Iwan Rheon), whose hope it is, that Britain can defeat the Nazis and free his own country.

Starring Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones, Misfits) as Jan Zumbach, Milo Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge, Breaking & Exiting) as John Kent and Stefanie Martini (The Gold (2023), Prime Suspect 1973) as Phyllis Lambert.

Victoria Gardens was used in one of the scenes scene with a bus where Josef Frantisek (Krystof Hádek) meets Jan Zumbach (Iwan Rheon) and Ziggy (Matt Malecki). Victoria Gardens is situated in Broadstairs which is home to some of the most beautiful Georgian, Victorian and Regency buildings. Broadstairs has a sandy beach with sea-carved chalk cliffs with the scenery being used in the film when a character parachutes onto the beach from a war plane.

There was also a beach scene filmed at Stone Bay in Broadstairs, where Jan Zumbach (Iwan Rheon) is seen walking off a beach (this follows him stealing a plane in France to fly to England).

Broadstairs is situated in Thanet which is home to many beautiful Georgian, Victorian and Regency buildings. The area is a popular location for a variety of films and TV series including Liar (2017), The Lady in the Van (2015), and The Calling (2009).

The film was released in the UK on Friday 7th September 2018.

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

The Others (2001)

Posted on by Kent Film Office
The Others film poster- Nicole kidman holding a lamp looking scared. The others written on top on a black background

The Others © Cruise/Wagner Productions

Directed by: Alejandro Amenabar

The Lime Walk, Penshurst Place- misty forest with trees

The Lime Walk, Penshurst Place © Cruise/Wagner Productions

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Fionnula Flanagan, Christopher Eccleston, Alakina Mann, James Bentley, Eric Sykes

Production Company: Cruise/Wagner Productions, Sogecine, Las Producciones del Escorpión, Dimension Films, Canal+, Lucky Red, Miramax 

Kent Locations Used: Penshurst Place 

The Others is a supernatural thriller set in Jersey after the Second World War about a woman who lives in a darkened old house with her two photosensitive children and becomes convinced it is haunted.

The film features Nicole Kidman (The Golden Compass, Moulin Rouge), Fionnula Flanagan (Four Brothers, Tears of the Sun), Christopher Eccleston (Elizabeth, The Invisible Circus), Alakina Mann (Girl With the Pearl Earring), James Bentley (The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, Imperium: Nero) and Eric Sykes (Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire). 

The Lime Walk at Penshurst Place was used for the scene where Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman) is walking to the local village through the fog, and coincidently bumps into her husband who has returned from the war. Penshurst Place has previously welcomed other productions such as The Hollow Crown- Henry V (2012), The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) and Merlin (2008).

The Others was released in cinemas in November 2001 and is now available to buy on DVD.

 

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