Television and movie productions help boost Somerset economy

Films and television productions, including The Salt Path and 28 Years Later, have helped boost Somerset’s economy with millions of pounds worth of investment.

Companies who chose Somerset as the base for their work have contributed around £4.2m to the economy according to the local council.

Councillor Mike Rigby, who is the lead for economic development, said the success is down to Somerset’s various coastal, country and urban locations, as well as the work carried out by the council’s film office.

He said productions were also able to root their work locally with the partnership of the help of the Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol.

Mr Rigby, speaking at Bishop’s Lydeard station, where scenes for the upcoming thriller Down Cemetery Road were filmed, said: “It can be quite a circus.

“You really get a big production like we had here and there were probably about a hundred crew here, so we found all of the spend associated with that, with hotels, with lunches, we had a local bakery shipping in hundreds of pasties a day.

“We had fencing contractors helping to make the station look like a contemporary railway station and all of that money feeds into the local economy.”

Based in Wincanton, Lizzy Ralph is a location manager, and has worked on Somerset-based productions including The Salt Path and Down Cemetery Road.

“It’s definitely busier here, more people have come into the industry, more people have stepped up in to more senior positions and those roles exist now.

“There are opportunities for new people to get involved all the time now and lots of schemes getting new people into the industry which is really exciting.”

Caroline Ingvarsson, the director of psychological thriller Unmoored, which was set and filmed almost entirely on Exmoor, said it was “critical” to bring the production to Somerset.

Ms Ingvarsson added she benefitted from the use of local crew members on the film while in Somerset.

“They were absolutely amazing, we filmed at the Exmoor Forest Inn and they helped us so much, they helped us finding the exterior of [the lead character’s] house.

“There were so many locations that it was obviously sometimes hard, tricky to get to, but everyone in local area just helped out to make it doable for us to reach.

“It became such a communal thing to to create this film together – It was quite extraordinary.”