The brand new drama based on the first novel for adults from bestselling Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling will premiere on BBC One this Sunday night, after filming in Bristol last year. Three part mini-series The Casual Vacancy, which filmed with the support of Bristol Film Office in July and August 2014, begins on Sunday 15 February at 9pm.
Starring an ensemble cast including Michael Gambon, Julia McKenzie, Keeley Hawes, Rufus Jones and Rory Kinnear, The Casual Vacancy centres on Pagford, a seemingly idyllic English village with a cobbled market square and ancient abbey. Behind the pretty façade however, is a town at war: rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils.
Bristol’s Silbury Road in Ashton Vale doubles for ‘The Fields’, the novel’s housing estate where many of the scenes take place. Houses on the road were used for interiors, exteriors, lighting and camera positions, and scaffolding was erected to provide vantage points. The field behind Silbury Road was also used for some filming some of the action. Ashton Court was used as a unit base for the production, and Flax Bourton Mortuary also features in the drama’s morgue scenes.
The Bristol Film Office were fantastically helpful in helping us identify places to film and in many other ways too; identifying our needs and connecting the production team to reliable local suppliers. With so many locations required for the production, their support was invaluable!
Ruth Kenley-Letts, Producer, The Casual Vacancy
It was a pleasure to welcome Brontë Film and Television to Bristol last year for the filming of this highly anticipated new drama. Bristol has a fantastic track record as a location for TV drama, we are a film friendly city that works hard to assist production teams, by helping with locations searches, putting them in touch with local partners and supplying all the permissions needed to ensure filming runs smoothly.
Natalie Moore, Bristol Film Office
There’s a reason why we do this – productions like The Casual Vacancy are good news not only for the local crew who are employed on them, but also for the city’s wider economy. In 2013/14, filming in Bristol brought £19.6 million inward investment into the city, and we predict that the 2014/5 figures will continue to be strong. A rising number of large scale productions, such as Wolf Hall, Poldark and Galavant, chose Bristol locations last year. With a skilled crew base, effective Film Office and strong production base at The Bottle Yard Studios, Bristol is really standing out as a leading UK filming destination that can accommodate all kinds of production.
The Casual Vacancy is a 3×60 minute mini-series produced by Brontë Film and Television. It is written by Sarah Phelps (BBC’s Great Expectations and The Crimson Field), directed by Jonny Campbell (Bafta winner Eric & Ernie, Bafta-winning mini-series In the Flesh) and produced by Ruth Kenley-Letts (The Tunnel, the Emmy Award-winning The Hour).
Other productions recently filmed in Bristol with the support of the Film Office include: BBC Two drama Wolf Hall (showing now); upcoming BBC One drama Poldark (coming soon); Sky1HD’s quirky crime drama Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (aired Boxing Day 2014); Disney/ABC Studios’ musical fairytale comedy Galavant (aired in the US in January 2015); ITV drama The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies (aired December 2014); BBC Two wildlife series Nature’s Weirdest Events with Chris Packham (aired January 2015); and CBBC’s new art series Art Ninja (aired January 2015).