During the summer of 2022 you may have spotted a number of vehicles, horses and Arthurian soldiers wondering about the hills and now you can see the results on ITVX. Production company Bad Wolf used a number of local locations to film the new drama; an adaptation of Bernard Cornwall’s The Winter King.
The filming saw much of Dead Woman’s Ditch, Wilmot’s Pool and Staple Plain car parks taken over by cast and crew for short periods during filming, as our wonderful Quantocks provided the backdrop to some of the scenes. Set in Arthurian Britain and based on characters and plot elements of Arthurian myth, you can see if you recognise any of the locations as you are transported back in time.
During filming props could be seen everywhere, from spears, shields and wagons to manikins representing dead bodies (which were quite realistic!). A small army of makeup artists ensured all battle wounds looked authentic and fresh, grooms attended to the horses, while others carried hand-held smoke machines and stood knee deep in heather whilst others wafted smoke in the right direction to create the atmospheric shots you will see. All overseen by the director, film crew and large team with a lot of cameras and a lot of tech!
All necessary consents and permission were obtained by the production company in advance of filming, and necessary precautions were taken to ensure no damage was done during filming and the following day you would not have known they had been there.
The drama first aired in the US in Autumn 2023, and launched on ITV X over the Christmas period; it is free to stream on demand via ITV X.
A donation was made to Friends of Quantock for use of our land which has been used for some required car park maintenance costs.