MARGATE TO FEATURE IN NATIONAL BBC DRAMA

The television spotlight is set to fall upon Thanet this weekend, as the BBC broadcasts a major drama that has been filmed entirely on location in the area. 

 ‘True Love’ has been written and directed by award-winning Dominic Savage, and features a star-studded cast of British acting talent, including David Tennant, Billie Piper, Jane Horrocks, Ashley Walters and David Morrisey. 

 The drama will be broadcast on BBC One from Sunday 17 June to Wednesday 20 June, and features overlapping stories, as the main characters grapple with the contradictions and conflicts of love.


Set in Margate, True Love was filmed from mid-August to October last year, and involved close co-operation between Thanet District Council and the BBC from the start.


The council’s Communications Department manages requests for filming on council-owned property, working closely with production companies to ensure filming runs smoothly with minimal disruption.


Thanks to some productive meetings, the True Love team was able to receive valuable help in ensuring that their filming was a success.


Margate landmarks that feature in True Love include the council’s Cecil Street offices, Turner Contemporary, the town’s Hawley Square, and Margate main sands. 


The filmmakers also took action shots at Charles Dickens School in Broadstairs, the Pegwell Bay Hotel, Ramsgate, and Westwood Cross shopping centre.


Once all the filming was complete, the producer of True Love, Guy Heeley, contacted the council’s Communications team and said: “Thank you to you and your colleagues for welcoming us and helping to make things run so smoothly over the last six weeks.”


The councils’ Business Services Manager, Sarah Carroll, said: “Dominic Savage is an internationally-recognised writer and director, and it’s wonderful that he picked his birth town of Margate to be the main location for True Love.


She added: “For many filmmakers and producers, Thanet is a first-choice location for television adverts or major productions. Dramas such as True Love enable Thanet’s beautiful locations to be broadcast into the homes of millions of television and internet viewers as well as boosting our local economy.


“I hope that local people tune in to True Love and feel proud that their area has attracted such a sparkling array of talent, and also feel proud that Thanet is firmly on the national broadcast map.” 


Picture © BBC