/Stories/Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust awarded UK Shared Prosperity Fund to develop Screen Tourism Attraction for Medway
Film Location17th October 2023
Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust awarded UK Shared Prosperity Fund to develop Screen Tourism Attraction for Medway
We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded £5,000 by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to conduct a feasibility study to develop a brand new film location experience at the Historic Dockyard.
The Historic Dockyard Chatham is widely recognised in the film and tourism industry as a film location. The iconic backdrop of the Dockyard has featured in a number of blockbuster TV and Films, including productions by Warner Brothers, Universal Pictures and Neal Street Productions. We are home to the Official Call the Midwife Location Tour, welcoming thousands of visitors each year through our successful partnership with Neal Street Productions.
Feasibility Study on the development of a Screen Tourism Attraction
With genuine Victorian and Georgian buildings, cobbled streets, docksides and historic warships, the Historic Dockyard has been the location of choice for feature films, popular TV series and promotional videos. In recent years, we have gained additional recognition as the filming location for the popular TV series Call the Midwife. Fans from around the world now visit the Dockyard to experience the setting first-hand.
With the UK Shared Prosperity Funding we will undertake a feasibility study to explore the opportunity of introducing a brand-new film location tour and experience at The Historic Dockyard Chatham.
Medway – a Screen Tourism Destination
Screen tourism refers to the industry in which visitors flock to a location that has been featured in films, TV shows, or other forms of media. Screen tourism provides a direct connection with the location of a film or TV series, whereby a trip to a set or filming location creates a truly unique visitor experience. The UK has seen huge benefits of screen tourism in destinations strongly associated with a popular TV show or film. Visit Kent reported that in 2021/22, it was estimated that filming generated a record breaking £8 million towards the Kent economy, due to the presence of internationally acclaimed film and TV productions such as Call the Midwife and James Bond.
A Feasibility Study on a screen tourism attraction at The Historic Dockyard Chatham has the potential to contribute to the Shared Prosperity Fund Communities in Place priority in several ways:
Placing Medway on the map as a screen tourism destination would foster community pride by demonstrating the appeal and desirability of a place such as Medway.
Medway garnering positive attention in popular media would impact how both residents and those outside the local authority area perceive Medway.
An influx of tourism revenue would support local businesses, create job opportunities, and increase life chances and quality of life for Medway residents.
Heightened appreciation for Medway’s cultural heritage and historical significance – potentially leading to increased community interest in the preservation and protection of local landmarks and historic sites.
The Historic Dockyard Chatham has been integral to the history of Chatham and neighbouring Medway towns for over 400 years. Its position as one of the most important naval dockyards in Britain is tightly bound up with the social, economic and political history of both the local area and of the country as a whole. Engaging local audiences through a film location experience, would widen public participation and access to the cultural heritage that the Dockyard and Medway has to offer.
As seen in …
You’ll recognise The Historic Dockyard Chatham in many blockbuster movies and hit series.
Lucy Worsley takes on the case of a forgotten Victorian serial killer who was never caught. Dubbed the Thames Torso Murderer, and operating at the same time as Jack the Ripper.
Netflix (2025)
Thursday Murder Club
The film follows a group of friends in a retirement home who gather to solve murders for fun but find themselves caught in a real case.
2025
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Ethan Hunt and the IMF team race against time to find the Entity, a rogue artificial intelligence that can destroy mankind.
Series 2 (2025)
SAS Rogue Heroes
SAS: Rogue Heroes charts the creation of the famed Special Forces unit. Based on the book by Ben Macintyre.
SKY (2025)
The Lost Music of Auschwitz
Marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, The Lost Music of Auschwitz, tells the story of Leo Geyer’s eight-year mission to piece together a treasure-trove of forgotten fragments of music manuscripts found in the archives of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum.
ITV (2025)
A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story
Follows the story of Ruth Ellis: her lifestyle as a young nightclub manageress, her violent relationship with the man she then killed in cold blood, her arrest, trial, and subsequent legal battle to get her release before she was the last woman to be hanged in Britain.
Apple TV (2024)
The Blitz
Depicting the stark reality of war-torn London, a resilient young evacuee embarks on a dangerous journey home to his mother.
Marvel Studios (2023)
Loki – Season 2
After stealing the Tesseract, Loki comes into contact with a mysterious organization that gives him an ominous ultimatum, either fix the timeline or cease to exist completely.
Series 3 Episode 5 (2023)
The Great
In “The Great” season 3, Catherine and Peter struggle to navigate their tumultuous marriage after Catherine attempted to kill him, leaving Peter deeply traumatized and seeking revenge while she tries to rule Russia, facing challenges from the court and navigating her own internal conflicts as she attempts to enact progressive reforms
Marvel Studios / Disney (2023)
Secret Invasion
Nick Fury learns of a secret invasion of Earth by a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls; Fury joins his allies, and together they race against time to thwart an imminent Skrull invasion and save humanity.
Jerk is a British black comedy television series starring and co-written by Tim Renkow. It centres around Tim (played by Renkow), a man with cerebral palsy.
The Crown is a historical drama television series about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
2022 (Episode 1.6550)
Eastenders
A one-off EastEnders “flash-back” episode to 1979.
Netflix (2022)
Enola Holmes 2
Enola Holmes takes on her first case as a detective, but to unravel the mystery of a missing girl, she’ll need some help from friends — and brother Sherlock.
2022
The Living
Set in 1953 London, it stars Bill Nighy as a bureaucrat in the public works department who learns he has a fatal illness.
2022
Operation Mincemeat
Operation Mincemeat was a successful British deception operation of the Second World War to disguise the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily.
2022
A Spy Among Friends
Nicholas Elliott, an MI6 intelligence officer, learns about his close friend Kim Philby’s role as a double agent for the Soviet Union.
2021
The Nevers
A group of Victorian women suddenly gain mysterious powers and go up against a relentless stream of enemies to fulfil their mission which could change the world.
BBC Film (2021)
Phantom of the Open
Amateur golfer Maurice Flitcroft achieves his late-in-life goal of participating in the British Open Golf Championship, much to the ire of the staid golfing community.
BBC Films (2020)
Ammonite
Mary Anning collects and sells fossils to make ends meet. Her life changes drastically when a wealthy visitor hires her to care for his sick wife.
2020
Bridgerton
During the Regency era in England, eight close-knit siblings of the powerful Bridgerton family attempt to find love.
Summerland (2020)
Summerland
A reclusive writer is saddled with the responsibility of a young boy in a war-torn nation. Although reluctant at first, accepting him allows her to rediscover not only joy but also a long-lost love.
Amazon Studios (2019)
The Aeronauts
In 1862, meteorologist James and balloon pilot Amelia risk their lives as they continue to fly higher to study the weather and advance scientific knowledge.
(2019)
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu
The film follows former Pokémon trainer Tim Goodman and Pikachu as they attempt to solve the mysterious disappearance of Tim’s father, Harry.
Series 1 (2024)
The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin
Unit Base
Film4 (2018)
Peterloo
A peaceful protest against poverty at St Peter’s Field in Manchester turns when the British forces charge inside and attack the crowd.
BBC (2015)
Partners in Crime
Agatha Christie’s crime-fighting duo, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, solve mysteries and search for enemy spies in 1950s Britain.
Series 1 -4 (2013 – 2016)
Mr Selfridge
Harry Gordon Selfridge, an American retail tycoon, moves to Britain and opens up one of the finest chain of high-end department stores known as Selfridges.
Universal Pictures (2013)
Les Misérables
Film version of the stage show.
Jean Valjean, an escaped convict, becomes the mayor of a town and the guardian of a young girl. Years later, his past catches up with him and he gets caught in a political uprising in Paris.
(2009 & 2011)
Sherlock Holmes 1 & 2
Sherlock Holmes is a 2009 period mystery action film starring Robert Downey Jr. as the character of the same name created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
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