Written by on Oct 4, 2013. Posted in On Location

Jack Bauer follow-up filming London for 24: Live Another Day

Kiefer Sutherland will film a miniseries continuation of his hit action drama 24 on location in London. The regular 24 series ended in 2010 but Live Another Day will see the return of Jack Bauer and will be filmed in the coming months for broadcast in summer 2014.

“We wanted the show’s return to be an event and part of that was putting Jack in a very different context,” said co-showrunner and executive producer Evan Katz: “Four years ago we left Jack a fugitive from justice and we’re going to pick him up four years later in London.”

“Jack is soon back on the run and it takes us into the streets of London and in places that break new ground for the show,” commented co-showrunner and executive producer Manny Coto: “We’ve shot in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Cape Town - but now we’re in London and Jack’s loose on the streets of Europe, hunted by and hunting bad guys.”

“24 has always had such a global sensibility,” added Sutherland, who is as an executive producer as well as star: “But to be able to tell this intense 24-style story with the beauty of Europe’s history and architecture as the backdrop is going to be fascinating.”

It’s likely that the UK’s recently-launched TV tax credit played a major role in securing the shoot for London. The new programme – launched in April this year – complements the UK’s existing film tax credit and enables TV producers to claim a 25% credit on productions with budgets of at least GBP1 million per hour of television.

To be able to tell this intense 24-style story with the beauty of Europe’s history and architecture as the backdrop is going to be fascinating.

Kiefer Sutherland

Securing 24: Live Another Day is a major boost for the UK’s appeal as a global television production centre and is exactly the kind of high-profile shoot that the TV tax credit was designed to attract.

While the finances may be favourable, studio availability is among the biggest issues facing Britain’s production industry and there is considerable pressure to develop new facilities as international demand grows. Elstree Studios has responded by starting a GBP4.5 million expansion in north-west London and Warner Bros Studios Leavesden recently re-opened after a major refurbishment.

Pinewood Studios has just opened its new 45,000-square-foot Q Stage and will be making a renewed push in the coming weeks to get authorisation for its Pinewood Studios Development Framework plan. Additional studio space is also being planned for the Titanic Quarter in Northern Ireland, which has become the long-term home of Game of Thrones.

In the short-term, productions filming in the UK are increasingly retrofitting existing buildings. Fantasy drama Da Vinci’s Demons and the BBC’s Atlantis both took this approach to create new studio space in south Wales. In Scotland, major upcoming drama series Outlander has done the same near Glasgow as the Scottish government tries to decide on the best site for a large-scale purpose-built studio complex.

The next few months will be crucial in deciding the future of the UK’s production infrastructure.