INDEX feature Groombridge Place Penshurst Place


Keira Knightley, Pride and Prejudice


Meet the Midwife, Historic Dockyard Chatham


Palace, and one of its grand gateways adorned with a curtain of fl owers provided the backdrop for a ‘Royal


balcony moment’ at Cinderella’s wedding to her Prince. Although the castle is located high above the coast, in the fi lm it lies at the edge


Kent has made numerous starring roles in movie and TV history


of the woods, so a woodland scene was created from lorry loads of trees, shrubs and greenery on the grass banks within the castle’s outer walls.


Also, a short way up the coast at St


Margaret’s Bay is where James Bond creator, Ian Fleming, made his home in a beautiful house on the beach. It was here that he wrote many of his novels, looking out over the English Channel. Apparently the ‘007’ tag came from the number of the London to Dover coach, now a National Express service.


Groombridge Place


The 17th century manor house, gardens, woodlands and lake at Groombridge Place provided the ideal location for the 2005 big screen version of Jane Austen’s enduringly popular novel, Pride and Prejudice, masquerading as Longbourn, home of the Bennets. The fi lm boasted an A-list cast, with Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet and Matthew Macfadyen as Mr Darcy. Brenda Blethyn, Judy Dench, Rosamund Pike, Donald Sutherland and Carey Mulligan


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also starred. Austen herself was born in Hampshire, but her father George’s family had links to Kent and, later in life, Jane and her sister would visit their brother Edward at his home, Godmersham Park, between Ashford and Canterbury, and references to Kent appear throughout in


Pride and Prejudice. Historic Dockyard Chatham


Set over eight acres, the Georgian and Victorian streets, terraces and alleyways of Chatham’s Historic Dockyard make numerous appearances in Cameron Mackintosh’s big screen musical version of Les Misérables, based on Victor Hugo’s classic novel.


Set in 19th century France, it tells the story of Jean Valjean (played by Hugh Jackman) who breaks his parole after 19 years in the galleys and is hunted by ruthless policeman, Javert (Russell Crowe). Haunted by his past he is forced to make decisions that will transform his life forever. The scenes of Valjean’s factory were


re-created in the dockyard’s Tarring Yarn House, and the confrontation between Valjean and Javert – where he almost recognises his old nemesis – was fi lmed in the cockloft of the ropery, while the dockyard itself was also used to double as a court room and various streets.


The historic Chatham location was also


transformed into the 1950s East London Poplar Dock for the hugely popular Sunday night BBC TV drama Call the Midwife. Based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth, the series follows the life and dramas of a newly qualifi ed midwife and her colleagues and nuns at a nursing convent, where they face medical dramas and struggles in a deprived area of London.


Featuring Jessica Raine, Pam Ferris, Miranda Hart and Vanessa Redgrave, a variety of locations around the Dockyard replicated the streets of London’s East End. Such was its popularity that visitors to the Dockyard can now explore the areas used in the much-loved TV show in guided tour groups. • Visit www.thedockyard.co.uk


Penshurst Place


Last month, BBC Two launched its new British drama Wolf Hall, charting the meteoric rise of Thomas Cromwell in the Tudor Court, from his humble beginnings as a blacksmith’s son as he navigates the corridors of power to becoming Henry VIII’s closest advisor.


In May 2014, the production team visited Medieval and Tudor fortifi ed style manor house, Penshurst Place, near Tunbridge Wells, to fi lm in a variety of rooms to double for York Place and Whitehall. Filming also took place at Dover Castle, which served as The Tower of London for the execution of Anne Boleyn.


The fi ctionalised screenplay for the six- part series (based on Hilary Mantel’s Booker Prize-winning novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies) was written by Oscar-nominated


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