Jane Austen’s Sanditon filming in Bristol

The Bottle Yard

An ITV adaptation of Jane Austen’s final story Sanditon will shoot partly on sets built at The Bottle Yard Studios (pictured) in Bristol.

The eight-part story follows the adventures of a young woman who finds herself in the developing coastal town of the title and embroiled in the lives of the local people who depend on Sanditon becoming a success. 

Red Planet Pictures is producing the series that is written by Andrew Davies with Rose Williams and Theo James starring.

Sets have been built on a 22,000-sq-ft interior production space at The Bottle Yard Studios and a major 1820s-style Regency street set stretching nearly 70 metres is being built on back lot space.

Sanditon will also film on location in Bristol and in north-east Somerset, with production supported from the Bristol Film Office and the Bath Film Office.

“There is a wealth of locations in this area perfect for period drama and particularly the Georgian period where our story is set,” says Alex Protherough, head of production at Red Planet Pictures. “The country houses, Bath and its elegant Regency architecture, [and] even the Somerset coastline all offer a wide range of locations perfect for Sanditon. 

“The Bottle Yard Studios are perfectly located to access these locations and they have more to offer. Sanditon was always going to require an element of set building, as is often the case with continuing drama productions of this size. 

“The construction and studio spaces at the Bottle Yard have made Bristol the obvious place to base film and television production in the area.”

Bristol’s UK production profile has been boosted by The Bottle Yard Studios. All four series of the BBC’s period drama Poldark used the facility as a base and the Svalbard-set Fortitude recently filmed interiors at the studios. Rebooted adventure game show The Crystal Maze constructed its special set at the facility as well.

In November, the city was confirmed as a site for one of Channel 4’s new Creative Hubs.

Producers have also gravitated to Bristol Harbour. The location stood in for Guernsey in 2018’s wartime feature The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and doubled for Ireland’s Cobh Harbour in the 1950s-set Stan & Ollie.

Image: The Bottle Yard Studios

 



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