UK sees flurry of filming in April
It’s a busy start to the month for film and TV projects as cameras start to roll on several film and TV productions during the early part of April.
With the help of our online subscription service Production Intelligence, we take a look at the line-up for busy crew around the country, and further afield, as principal photography gets underway on a variety of features and TV dramas.
Film
The week beginning 4 April sees the start of a nine-week shoot on My Cousin Rachel, a big-screen adaptation of the Daphne Du Maurier novel in which an orphan seeks revenge on the woman he believes murdered his cousin.
Starring Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin and Holliday Grainger, the feature is directed by Roger Michell from his own screenplay. Prolific UK-producer Kevin Loader is also behind the feature; PI subscribers can log in for more names, including casting director, location manager, production designer, UPM and production co-ordinator.
The period feature Interlude in Prague also gets up and running during the first week of April, albeit in the Czech Republic capital. Plenty of UK involvement on this one though, including the casting director and line producer, listed on PI.
John Stephenson directs from a screenplay by Brian Ashby, which centres on Mozart who, while writing Don Giovanni in Prague, becomes caught up in a stormy narrative of murder and lust. Aneurin Barnard plays Mozart, alongside James Purefoy and Samantha Barks.
Also eyeing an early April start is The Mummy, now with Tom Cruise repotedly on board to star. Universal's major reboot of the horror classic marks the start of a new shared monsters universe for the Hollywood studio.
Alex Kurtzman makes his directorial debut on the feature, which is set in the present day, working from a screenplay by Jon Spaihts.
TV
Sherlock fans should keep their eyes peeled during early April as filming begins on series 4 of the BBC hit programme. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman reprise their roles in the classy updating of Conan Doyle’s mysteries, with Wales also on the locations list this time around.
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The Hartswood Films drama has been a behemoth hit for BBC One, and WGBH Boston, with showrunners Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss in charge of writing. Two location managers, the production designer and the line producer are among the key names on PI; the lengthy shoot, which will comprise three episodes, runs until August.
Another huge hit for the BBC, Doctor Who, has spawned several spin-offs, the latest of which is Class. A Young Adult drama, the 8 x 45 is set in contemporary London where danger is breaking through the walls of time and space.
Made in association with BBC Worldwide, the BBC Three production will be largely filming in Wales for five months from early April. Patrick Ness (A Monster Calls) has written the show and will be among the exec producers. Also on PI are details of the studio base, the production designer, line producer and production co-ordinator.
ITV’s major new period drama commission, The Halcyon, begins filming on 4 April, with the production office at a west London studio – see PI for details. From Left Bank Pictures, the 8-parter is set in a glamorous London hotel against the backdrop of the Second World War.
Charlotte Jones (Without You) has written the show, which is exec produced by Sharon Hughff and produced by Chris Croucher. On PI you can also find the production designer, production co-ordinator, line producer and location manager.
Johnny Vegas is the star of Home From Home, one of the BBC’s new programmes to mark 60 years of the British sitcom. A five-day shoot begins on 7 April in the north west on the one-off comedy which sees Vegas as a man who, having achieved his dream of buying a home in the beautiful Lake District, has serious second thoughts when he meets the neighbours. Joanna Page and Emilia Fox also star. Rebecca Papworth produces in-house for BBC2; log into PI for director, production manager, casting director and co-producer.
To round off our tranche of early April starts is a revival of one of comedy’s greatest classics, Hancock’s Half Hour, which records over one day during the first week of April.
The BBC is bringing back several archive comedies, including three which are original scripts of individual episodes but which were subsequently lost as recordings. These Lost Sitcoms are part of the corporation’s major comedy season to mark 60 years of the British sitcom genre.
Kevin McNally plays Hancock with Robin Sebastian as Kenneth Williams in this original episode by Galton and Simpson, called The New Neighbour. Recording takes place in Scotland with Owen Bell producing and Steven Canny exec-ing. Also on PI you can find the studio, production manager, director and casting director involved with this project.
PI subscribers can find details on all the productions listed above by logging into our site; non-subscribers can click here for a demo.
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