Solent: Creative England to encourage filming in New Forest

The New Forest District Council has signed an enhanced partnership agreement with Creative England with the aim of attracting more filming to the area. To this end Creative England will register new locations on its national locations database – which ranges from stately homes to disused office blocks – and deliver events and activity in the New Forest.

The New Forest has already been home to several well-known film and TV productions, including BBC TV sit-com The Brittas Empire, which used Ringwood’s Leisure Centre to double as the fictional Whitbury Leisure Centre.

Paramount’s Mission: Impossible 5: Rogue Nation used the Fawley Oil Refinery for some of its scenes; and Warner Bros’ Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves used the New Forest to double for Sherwood Forest.

More recently, parts of the New Forest have shown their adaptability once again with parts of the Beaulieu River and its surroundings doubling for Miami in the much anticipated drug cartel drama, The Infiltrator starring Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston, which is due to screen later this year.

Film and TV drama shooting on location can be an important driver for economic growth in that it can mean a spending of up to £40,000 per day on local goods and services.

Creative England’s production liaison manager for the South East, Hayley Armstrong, said: “The New Forest has a huge amount to offer the filmmaker with its diverse range of locations and film-friendly proactive District Council. We hope with our enhanced partnership to be able to lend our expertise to both the private and public sector in the area to make the most of future filming opportunities.”