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Margate film locations: Empire of Light, Killing Eve, Only Fools and Horses' Jolly Boys Outing and Alan Carr's Interior Design Masters

05:00, 17 May 2022

updated: 15:49, 17 May 2022

Among the many attractions Margate has to offer, surely a walking tour of film locations should be on the radar of some budding entrepreneur?

Because the town has found itself at the centre of some sizeable TV and film shows over recent months - which should further fuel its popularity.

Margate has proved a popular location for a number of major TV and film shoots
Margate has proved a popular location for a number of major TV and film shoots

In fact, if you can get down there before filming wraps up on what could become its defining moment on celluloid, you can grab a selfie in front of the very visible set of Sam Mendes' upcoming movie Empire of Light.

But while the director's flick, starring the likes of Olivia Coleman and Colin Firth, has for the last few months had a significant impact on the town's appearance, there are other notable productions which have cast the town in the lead role.

Killing Eve, for one.

Hailed as one of TV drama's greatest creations when the first series arrived in 2018, its quality gradually declined over subsequent outings.

Season three took a once thrilling show and turned it into a bore-fest where the storyline disappeared beyond most viewer's care and did its very best job to ensure there was barely any appetite for a finale.

Dreamland as seen on Killing Eve. Picture: BBC
Dreamland as seen on Killing Eve. Picture: BBC

But return it did earlier this year and some of its reputation was restored although many viewers and critics had long since stopped viewing it through rose-tinted spectacles. It wasn't great - it still suffered from an intolerable reliance on style over substance - but it showed flashes of what made that opening season such binge-worthy content.

Few, however, would have imagined that Margate would join the line-up of places the show would visit - even less that it would play such a key role for many of the biggest characters.

Konstantin and Pam in the Nayland Rock Hotel. Picture: BBC
Konstantin and Pam in the Nayland Rock Hotel. Picture: BBC

So, first, a spoiler alert. If you've not yet watched season four you may wish to jump ahead because we're about to reveal some of the key twists which unfolded in little old Thanet.

Happy to read on? Then midway through the season all the main cast members find themselves sunning themselves in the seaside town.

The Lido in Margate doing its finest impression of Havana in Killing Eve. Picture: BBC
The Lido in Margate doing its finest impression of Havana in Killing Eve. Picture: BBC

In fact, the abandoned area which forms the Lido (walk up past the Turner Contemporary and stroll down into the car park behind the Winter Gardens) doubled up as Havana in one episode. A leap of the imagination which should take some doing, but if you're not aware of it, it passes with flying colours in the show itself. Stars Jodie Comer (Villanelle) and Fiona Shaw (Carolyn) share the screen time in that scene.

The Lido - where Killing Eve recreated Havana in Cuba
The Lido - where Killing Eve recreated Havana in Cuba

But it gets meatier. As the series nears a conclusion, Villanelle finds herself struck down with an arrow in her back as she emerges from the hotel in which her former handler Konstantin (Kim Bodnia) was staying in full view of Sandra Oh's character Eve Polastri.

Where Villanelle - played by Jodie Comie, pictured - gets shot by an arrow in season four of Killing Eve. Picture: BBC
Where Villanelle - played by Jodie Comie, pictured - gets shot by an arrow in season four of Killing Eve. Picture: BBC

She falls in a small square just off the Old Town on the junction of Duke Street and Market Place. There's no hotel there in reality, of course, but just go with it.

The Killing Eve location in Margate's Old Town, as it is today
The Killing Eve location in Margate's Old Town, as it is today

The town certainly gets plenty of air-time - Dreamland, the Harbour Arm (off which Konstantin is pushed by show newcomer Pam) and Nayland Rock Hotel all feature heavily. The promenade just in front of the hotel is where Villanelle walks alongside Eve as she drives a mobility scooter.

Eve and Villanelle on the promenade just behind the Nayland Rock Hotel. Picture: BBC
Eve and Villanelle on the promenade just behind the Nayland Rock Hotel. Picture: BBC

I won't spoil anything else by revealing what else happens - but if you know the area, it's a big case of 'oh, look, that's so-and-so'.

Watching a lot of amateur interior designer-wannabes give rooms a once over doesn't sound like it should make good TV. Yet the BBC's Interior Design Masters manages to prove the naysayers wrong with a rather engaging programme which pits contestants against one another culminating in the judges booting one off each week until the last one standing is proclaimed the champion.

Konstantin on the steps leading down to Margate's Main Sands. Picture: BBC
Konstantin on the steps leading down to Margate's Main Sands. Picture: BBC

And in the latest series of the Alan Carr-fronted show, one of the rounds saw the final four contestants decamp to Margate tasked with turning two eateries into something a little different.

Charlie's - as seen in Interior Design Masters
Charlie's - as seen in Interior Design Masters

One team was let loose on bar and café Olby's in King Street - a road heading towards the Old Town almost opposite the Turner Contemporary - while a few hundred yards around the corner, the others got stuck into the café and restaurant Charlie's on The Parade.

Both did, in fairness, a reasonable job with what they had to play with. New exterior signs were put up and interiors, as the name of the show suggests, got a decent overhaul. The big question is just how much of the designs did the businesses stick with once the camera crews left town? Well you can be the judge of that yourself after watching the show by heading down to visit both.

(I'll give you a little taste, the removed sign from the front of one was swiftly reinstated, but much of which the teams did are still very much visible).

The Empire of Light locations during filming this year
The Empire of Light locations during filming this year

Now if you can get down to Margate pronto you can find yourself practically walking through the film set of Empire of Light.

It is, in truth, almost impossible to miss - the old cinema in Dreamland has seen its exterior transformed (and extended) into the cinema frontage of old, while even the neon Dreamland sign has been replaced with one reading Empire. Stroll towards the station, and 1980s ad posters have been put up along with music concert posters for the likes of Adam and the Ants, The Clash and The Damned - all boasting of performances in and around Kent.

The advertising posters set up for Empire of Light
The advertising posters set up for Empire of Light

Walk back past the entrance to Dreamland and towards the arcades and, lo and behold, the cinema's entrance - complete with foyer has been re-created 100 yards from the other one. It is a bit of a double-take moment. It's almost an exact replica but clearly provides options for the actors to actually go inside.

Take a train ride from Margate to Ramsgate and you go past the back of Dreamland where, if you peer out of your window, you could see the old 1980s cars used for traffic scenes when the roads were closed off for filming, were stored, along with the back of the set looming large.

The Empire signage - used for the Empire of Light filming - temporarily replacing the Dreamland lettering
The Empire signage - used for the Empire of Light filming - temporarily replacing the Dreamland lettering

It's all rather handy for Dreamland which has been closed for the season so far - but has probably made far more money as a movie location than it does waiting for the paying punter to take a ride of a rollercoaster.

Earlier in the filming, fake snow was sprinkled along the promenade opposite the cinema frontages and, of course, the string of bright white lights - strung up and stretching all the way from the Nayland Rock Hotel (which was also used for shooting some scenes) to close to the Turner Contemporary - have been gifted to the town by film-makers. You won't be able to miss them as they dazzle and are a very fine addition to the seafront.

The Nayland Rock Hotel - used for filming for Empire of Light and Killing Eve
The Nayland Rock Hotel - used for filming for Empire of Light and Killing Eve

A few years ago, UK Gold polled its viewers as to their favourite all-time episode of classic BBC comedy Only Fools and Horses. The Jolly Boys' Outing came out top.

Del and Rodney with Margate spread out behind them. Picture: BBC
Del and Rodney with Margate spread out behind them. Picture: BBC

And it's not hard to see why. The 1989 Christmas special took pretty much the entire cast on a coach trip to Margate for a summer day and not only did it provide some classic scenes, it also showcased Margate at its 1980s peak. A few years later its decline began in earnest and would last for the next decade.

In fact, Thanet was the setting for pretty much all location scenes - even those set in south London.

The Only Fools and Horses day-trippers outside Margate train station. Picture: BBC
The Only Fools and Horses day-trippers outside Margate train station. Picture: BBC

Where the Ramsgate Garden Centre is today is where scenes of Del Boy (David Jason) trading in 'Peckham' were shot (back in the days when it was the car park for the long-since demolished greyhound stadium), while the exterior of Cassandra's flat, when Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) is dropped off, was in Cliftonville.

Margate railway station - as seen in Only Fools and Horses
Margate railway station - as seen in Only Fools and Horses

But the meat of the episode was in and around the centre of Margate itself.

Del and Rodney chat on the end of the Harbour Arm, the cast take a trip around Dreamland (known as Bembom Brothers then) - memorably going up and over on the Mary Rose ride - take a paddle on the beach and enjoy all the sights and sounds the town can muster.

Del and Rodney walking along the Harbour Arm in Margate in 1989's Jolly Boys' Outing - the Christmas special of Only Fools and Horses. Picture: BBC
Del and Rodney walking along the Harbour Arm in Margate in 1989's Jolly Boys' Outing - the Christmas special of Only Fools and Horses. Picture: BBC

The group stop off, en route, at what was then the Roman Galley pub on the Thanet Way (long since converted into flats) while the famous scene which sees their coach go up in flames was shot in Palm Bay.

The end of the Harbour Arm in Margate - as seen in Killing Eve and Only Fools and Horses
The end of the Harbour Arm in Margate - as seen in Killing Eve and Only Fools and Horses

Ironically, a mural painted on to the wall close to the entrance to Dreamland to mark the famous episode, has been temporarily covered up by fake advertising hoardings for shooting of the Empire of Light.

However, shooting is due to conclude by the end of May and the town will, for the first time since February be returned to normality.

So before those movie set walking tours finally get going, take yourself around the town.

Empire of Light is scheduled to hit the big screen this autumn.

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