Coming-of-age drama Alex Rider returns for a second series today (Friday 3rd December), streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime’s free IMDb TV streaming service, after filming on location in Bristol for six months earlier this year.
Produced by Eleventh Hour Films, Alex Rider is a spythriller series based on the popular book franchise written by Anthony Horowitz, which has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.
It follows Alex, a London-based teenager who has unknowingly been trained since childhood for the dangerous world of espionage.
Bristol doubles as London in the new eight-part thriller, and the Alex Rider production team were supported by the city’s Film Office throughout the shoot, which ran from January to June 2021.
Significant sets including the central setting of the MI6 division known as ‘The Department’, were built inside A Bond Warehouse in the Cumberland Basin, whilst filming also took place at numerous other locations around Bristol.
Relocating Alex Rider from London to Bristol was a decision born from COVID-19 but it proved to be a successful choice on every level. The range of locations that Bristol and the West Country gave us were amazing. Add in the top rate Bristol film crew and we had a recipe for making another exciting season of Alex Rider that the audience love whilst doing so in a fantastic city that welcomed us and helped us to make the show COVID-safe. Bristol Film Office were a first-class resource that helped us on that journey and we are very grateful.
Producer Richard Burrell
Where did Alex Rider 2 film in Bristol?
- A Bond Warehouse, where large scale sets for ‘The Department’ were built
- Cotham School, which provided the location for Alex’s school, Brookland Comprehensive
- The University of Bristol campus, including Queen’s Building, Fry Building, Goldney Hall and Clifton Hill House
- UWE Bristol Business School
- Brabazon Hangar
- Ashton Gate Stadium
- Berkeley Square
- Victoria Walk
- Colston Avenue
- St Nicholas Market/Corn Street area
- Watershed
- Queen Square
- Castle Park
- Prince Street Bridge
- Clarence Place, Kingsdown
- Moon Street & Hepburn Road, St Pauls
- Stoke Park Estate
- Eastville Sluices
The second season of Alex Rider is based on the fourth book in the franchise, Eagle Strike. It stars Otto Farrant as Alex Rider, Stephen Dillane as Alan Blunt, Vicky McClure as Mrs. Jones, Brenock O’Connor as Tom Harris, Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́ jọ́ as Jack Starbright, Marli Siu as Kyra, Toby Stephens as Damian Cray, Rakie Ayola as Jo Byrne, and Charithra Chandran as Sabina Pleasance.
In Season two, Alex (Otto Farrant) is still reeling from the traumatic events at Point Blanc, and desperately wants to return to a normal life. But when his new friend Sabina’s father, journalist Ed Pleasance, is attacked by Yassen Gregorovich, the man who may have killed his uncle, Alex reluctantly finds himself drawn back into the world of international espionage.
Cut loose from his one-time allies within shadowy MI6 division The Department, Alex discovers a link between Ed, a dangerous hacker known as Smoking Mirror, and tech billionaire Damian Cray. With the help of his guardian Jack and trusted friend Tom, Alex must unravel a sinister political plot with global repercussions, the answer to which may be locked within Cray’s latest product, the global phenomenon video game Feathered Serpent.
Anthony Horowitz, author of the Alex Rider franchise, serves as an executive producer alongside Eleventh Hour’s Jill Green and Eve Gutierrez, and series writer Guy Burt. The series is distributed by Sony Pictures Television.
Alex Rider season two is available to stream on Amazon Prime’s free IMDb TV streaming service from Friday 3 December.