Written by Tom Deehan on Mar 1, 2017. Posted in On Location / Production News

BBC drama Gunpowder starring Kit Harington now filming in Yorkshire

The BBC’s next high-budget period drama, Gunpowder, has begun filming on location in Beverley, Yorkshire. Scenes were filmed at Beverley Minster, a large parish that dates back to 1220. The series is being produced by Kudos (Apple Tree Yard, Humans).

Gunpowder will depict the history of the Gunpowder Plot, a failed assassination attempt on the life of King James I in 1605. Kit Harington will star as Robert Catesby, alongside Mark Gatiss, Peter Mullan and Liv Tyler.

Piers Wenger, BBC Controller Drama Commissioning states: “Ronan Bennett's powerful scripts tells the visceral and resonant story behind the Gunpowder Plot and I couldn't be more delighted that J Blakeson is on board to direct. Gunpowder will be unmissable event television.”

Diederick Santer, Chief Executive Officer of Kudos adds: “The Gunpowder Plot is one of the best known stories in Britain and most people are aware of the basic facts. But what Ronan has achieved with his page-turning script, and what I hope Kit and Peter and the rest of the magnificent cast will do, is to take the BBC One audience behind the story, into the people, the passion and the politics. This will be a hugely engaging drama with a fascinating contemporary resonance, showing the consequences of what can happen when a religious minority is persecuted.”

The three-part series is being directed by J Blakeson, with Kit Harington, Ollie Madden and Stephen Wright acting as Executive Producers.

The UK's domestic television market is stimulated by the national Government's film incentive programme. High-end television programmes that spend a minimum of GBP1 million per broadcast hour are eligible to receive a 25% tax rebate to cover expenses.

Recent productions to have benefitted from the rebate include Stan Lee’s Lucky Man and the final season of Broadchurch, the former of which filmed in a number of boroughs throughout London.