With the UK remaining a world-leading choice for big-budget film and high-end TV production, the British Film Commission (BFC) are busier than ever providing support and advice.
“From script to delivery, our UK and US teams offer extensive guidance on all aspects of production, including the UK tax relief, sourcing specific locations and stage space, as well as key UK crew,” says BFC production support executive Abee McCallum. The BFC also works with the network of UK screen agencies - Creative England, Film London, Northern Ireland Screen, Screen Scotland and Wales Screen - to provide support across all nations and regions. “The UK is very much open for business,” notes McCallum, “and we are on hand 24/7 to support and promote the UK and the projects that film here.”
Below is a selection of film and high-end TV productions supported by the BFC that have filmed in the UK, and are coming to a big and small screen near you in 2024.
Film
The Boys In The Boat
The George Clooney-directed biographical drama starring Joel Edgerton and Callum Turner focuses on the US men’s eight rowing team from the University of Washington at the 1936 summer Olympics in Berlin, who went on to win gold. The Amazon MGM Studios-backed production shot in the US, Germany and on location in south east England and at Winnersh Film Studios, a Stage Fifty operated facility just outside London.
UK release: Jan 12, 2024 / US release: Dec 25, 2023
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Gil Kenan’s upcoming American supernatural comedy film sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) stars Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace, with Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and William Atherton back from the earlier films. The Columbia Pictures, Sony-backed Bron Production filmed at Winnersh Studios, Farnborough Studios and Shinfield Studios in south east England.
UK/US release: March 22, 2024
Deadpool 3
Shawn Levy directs a third outing of the Ryan Reynolds-starring superhero dark comedy, and also produces alongside Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige for Disney. Filming began in May at Pinewood Studios, south east England, with additional filming in Norfolk and Bovingdon Airfield Studios. Suspended in July amid the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, Reynolds and co resumed in late November.
UK/US release: July 26, 2024
Speak No Evil
A remake of the original Danish horror, this Blumhouse productions directed by James Watkins and stars James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy. The Universal- distributed project filmed for a week in Croatia before moving to the UK to shoot on location in Gloucester, west England.
UK/US release: August 9, 2024
Paddington In Peru
Studiocanal’s Paddington In Peru began filming in July 2023 at Sky Studios Elstree and locations throughout south east England. Commercials filmmaker Dougal Wilson directs from a script by Mark Burton, Jon Foster and James Lamont based on a story by Paddington 1 and 2 collaborators Paul King, Simon Farnaby and Burton. Heyday Films’ David Heyman and Rosie Alison produce. Stars Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville and Julie Walters return, alongside Olivia Colman and Emily Mortimer — the latter replacing Sally Hawkins in the role of Mrs Brown.
UK release: November 8, 2024 / US release: Jan 17, 2025
Wicked: Part One
Jon M. Chu directs a film adaptation of the popular musical that serves as a prequel to The Wizard Of Oz. The Marc Platt Production for Universal stars Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh and Jonathan Bailey and is shooting at Sky Studios Elstree, a facility backed by Sky parent company Comcast in partnership with sister-company NBCUniversal.
UK release: Nov 24, 2024 / US release: Nov 27, 2024
High-end TV
Lift
This Netflix-backed F. Gary Gray directed action comedy starring Kevin Hart filmed on location across Belfast in Northern Ireland and in the city’s Belfast Harbour Studios between March and July 2022. Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Vincent D’Onofrio, Úrsula Corberó, Billy Magnussen, Viveik Kalra, Yun Jee Kim and Sam Worthington also star in the airborne heist caper.
UK/US release: Jan 12 2024
3 Body Problem
Netflix filmed its ambitious sci-fi adaptation of Liu Cixin’s novel in the UK and China, having inked a deal with the Three-Body Universe and Yoozoo Group for the rights to produce an English-language adaptation of the Chinese best sellers in 2020. Mounted by Alexander Woo and Game Of Thrones writers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the production shot in UK locations including Kent and Shepperton Studios, south east England.
UK/US release: March 21 2024
The Rig Season 2
David Macpherson’s The Rig was the first Amazon Original series filmed entirely in Scotland at the then-newly opened First Stage Studios in Leith, in 2021. The second season of the supernatural-thriller series returns to shoot at First Stage Studios, and is set for a summer 2024 release. Banijay-backed Wild Mercury Productions produces, with returning cast including Iain Glen, Martin Compston and Emily Hampshire.
UK/US release: Summer 2024 TBC
The Acolyte
The Star Wars spin-off is a mystery thriller set in the final days of the High Republic era, created for Disney’s Lucasfilm by Leslie Headland, and starring Amandla Stenberg and Lee Jung-jae. It filmed in the UK at Shinfield Studios, south east England, and will stream on Disney+ in 2024. Headland serves as showrunner, writer and executive producer on the eight-episode series; other directors include Alex Garcia Lopez and South Korean-born American filmmaker Kogonada.
UK/US release: 2024 TBC
Industry Season 3
The HBO/Bad Wolf/BBC drama began production in April 2023 in London and at the production’s home of Wolf Studios, Wales. As most of the cast are members of the UK-based union Equity, the series was able to keep filming during the SAG-AFTRA strike. Set in the British capital in the aftermath of the 2008 stock market crash, the show stars Myha’la Herrold stars as a driven young corporate banker.
UK/US release: 2024 TBC
Rivals
Produced for Disney+ by Happy Prince, part of ITV Studios, Rivals is billed as an outrageously bold eight-part 1980s set saga awash with power, betrayal and romance, and is based on the iconic novel by Jilly Cooper. It marks the first booking for The Bottleyard Studios ‘TYB2’, the second facility owned and run by Bristol City Council, which opened in November 2022.
UK/US Release: TBC
