Production Filming Continues Across Liverpool

Liverpool Film Office is celebrating after a very busy 2016/2017 which saw a number of productions filmed in locations across the city.

Fox Searchlight and Chernin Entertainment will bring JRR Tolkien to film on location in and around Liverpool over the coming weeks. The film's script – by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford – focuses on the author's early years as he finds friendship, love, and artistic flair which influenced his writing and the creation of his famous work, The Lord Of The Rings. Last month, the film office team recruited extras for the project which is set to star Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins and continue to work with the production team behind the film.

Sky1 also recently confirmed a new commission, Bulletproof, which will film on location in and around Liverpool this autumn and next spring. It stars Noel Clarke and Ashley Walters as police duo, Bishop and Pike. Packed full of humour, action and emotion, the series centres on the relationships between fathers and sons and is about friendship, conspiracies and ghosts from the past.

Liverpool Film Office experienced a busy 2016/2017 with some hard-hitting, high quality TV drama filmed in the city. These projects are due to air in the coming weeks and months and include The City and The City from Mammoth Screen for the BBC, with local actor David Morrissey taking the lead role.

Elsewhere, a transmission date for series four of Peaky Blinders is expected to be confirmed soon and follows the trailer for the newest series which was released last week.

Timewasters, a comedy debut on ITV2, transmits this week, while the general release of 'Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool' hits cinemas on 17 November. It stars Annette Benning, Jamie Bell, Stephen Graham and Julie Walters, and has already received critical acclaim amongst the film industry festival circuit.

Talent in Liverpool doesn't end with the city's locations and Film Office services, however. Local production company LA Productions have been nominated in the TV Movie/Mini Series category at the International Emmy Awards for REG. Made for BBC1, the story follows Reg Keys on a journey of grief and defiance after his son Tom Keys is one of six RMP's murdered in Al Majar, Iraq.

"We are one of the most filmed cities outside of London and production companies are a regular sight on our streets," said Councillor Wendy Simons. "We have a huge amount to offer production companies – amazing and diverse locations and a dedicated Film Office that delivers what directors and producers want. There is huge potential for the future which is why we have ambitious plans for a film studio on Edge Lane which would deliver jobs and other economic benefits."

Image: Peaky Blinders, Season 4. Credit: BBC.

www.liverpoolfilmoffice.tv

(JP/LM)