Film-makers have often made Bristol look like London on screen in recent years, but this will be a first – a big new BBC series to be broadcast next year is about to start filming in the city, and is set in Margate.
The makers of The Dream Lands, a six-part BBC One prime-time dystopian drama, have spent much of the summer filming in the actual Kent seaside town, and it’s now been announced that the rest of the series will be shot in Bristol.
The Dream Lands will tell the coming-of-age story set 15 years into the future, in 2039, at a time when climate change and societal inequality and breakdown is beginning to really affect the resort of Margate.
The BBC One series is a TV adaptation of Rosa Rankin-Gee’s novel Dreamland, named after the famous Margate theme park, and tells the story of Chance, a young woman who ‘discovers life and love, while being forced to fight for her family’s survival in a world that’s crumbling around her’.
“It’s 2039 and temperatures are soaring, seas are rising, and the political climate is equally as menacing,” said a BBC spokesperson. “Chance is living a life of crime just to get by, when her community is singled out for a government rejuvenation scheme, promising to bring her coastal town back to life.
“But when Chance falls in love with Franky, a girl with ties to the establishment, she and those closest to her begin to realise that all may not be as it seems. The Dream Lands is a thrilling voyage of romantic awakening and self-discovery, a defiant community fighting back. Part conspiracy thriller and part relationship drama, the story blazes with the enduring power of love and hope, in a world spinning out of control,” she added.
When filming was announced in Margate itself back in the late spring, the programme-makers held open casting, specifically for young people to be involved.
Dream Lands is currently being filmed in Margate, and will be until December when, according to UK Production News, filming will switch to Bristol in January, and a new local crew is being sought.