Behind the scenes of BBC One Great Expectations filming in Salisbury
Brand new TV show 'Great Expectations' airs this Sunday! With parts of the Tom Hardy & Steven Knight show filmed here in Salisbury, there's a good chance you'll recognise some of our historical city streets!
The new show is an adaption of the classic 1861 novel by Charles Dickens and tells the story of a young orphan named Pip as he navigates his way through life in 19th-century London. Faced with a dark world of possibilities, Pip must decide whether it will truly make him the man he wishes to be. Keeping true to Dickens's themes around love and rejection, wealth and poverty, and good vs. evil, the show is set to be a lavish new edition on BBC One.
A year ago, in March 2022, the streets of the Salisbury Cathedral Close were shut for filming at Myles Place; built in 1718 on the site of a Medieval Canonry.
William Swanton (Town Clerk, 1704) designed this home to be a luxurious mix of styles: ashlar-faced, with visible brickwork on the sides and rear, and an exquisite Corinthian doorway, making it a stunning backdrop for period filming.
Horse and Cart heading to Myles Place -- Photo credit: Beth Doherty
Many may know the house as the home of the great historian, Sir Arthur Bryant, who lived at Myles Place after the second World War until his death in 1985. But in this adaptation, it will become the infamous Satis House: home of the tragic and complicated Miss Havisham, played by Olivia Colman (Broadchurch, The Favourite, The Crown).
The expert production and set design team lead by Sonja Klaus and Ellie Pash, spent days transforming the iconic and luxurious Myles Place into the dilapidated Satis House. The building was dressed with meticulous detail, draping the garden and facade with creepers and vines along with faux snow and ice.
Photo credit: Spencer Mulholland
The Cathedral Close, and all it's roads, paths and greenery, was dressed with moody fog and snow throughout filming, creating a perfectly inclement backdrop to this new Peaky Blinders-meets-Taboo take on this canonical novel.
Make sure you catch the all-new 'Great Expectations' on BBC One & iPlayer this Sunday, 26th March 2023 at 9pm.
And why not take a walk around the Close this weekend and explore some of the other incredible architecture our city has to offer, or even a secret garden or two!...