Written by on Jan 23, 2015. Posted in On Location

Sean Bean to start filming The Frankenstein Chronicles in Northern Ireland

Former Game of Thrones star Sean Bean will start filming new ITV drama series The Frankenstein Chronicles next week. Northern Ireland will stand in for Regency London of the 1820s.

“The Frankenstein Chronicles is an epic re-working of one of literature and cinema’s most iconic stories,” said Steve November, ITV’s Director of Drama, when the production was first announced.

“We’re delighted to be working with (writer and director) Benjamin Ross, (writer) Barry Langford and the team at Rainmark Films with the vision to bring Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein back to life.”

The HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones has revitalised Northern Ireland as a production centre over the past five years. Belfast is used as a production base and the drama also shoots internationally in places like Iceland, Dubrovnik and now Spain.

Northern Ireland primarily attracts British TV productions, but has also hosted high-profile features like Dracula Untold, which doubled a host of locations for Transylvania and other parts of Eastern Europe.

The Frankenstein Chronicles is being part-funded by the Northern Ireland Screen Fund.

New TV drama adaptations of several classic stories have been announced by ITV in recent months. A miniseries of the classic Dark Ages poem Beowulf will be shot on a specially-built period set in the Durham Dales in northern England, and a new version of Jekyll & Hyde will shoot in India and in London.

The UK is one of the top production hubs in the world, with a dedicated TV tax credit designed to keep British productions at home and to attract international shoots.