Oscar winner granted permission to film in former school

Sir Kenneth Branagh is one of the directors of the company filming in Ascot

Hollwood actor and filmmaker Sir Kenneth Branagh has been granted permission to film his upcoming thriller in a former private school.

Nuncle Films Ltd asked for temporary permission to use the former Hurst Lodge private school in Ascot, Berkshire.

Branagh, who grew up in Reading after being born in Belfast, is one of the company’s directors.

Plans submitted to the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council did not say what film was being shot, but in May it was reported Branagh had begun work on a new psychological thriller called The Last Disturbance of Madeline Hyne.

The reports said filming would begin in August.

The plans submitted to the council also said filming at Hurst Lodge - and the construction of a large temporary sound stage and dressing rooms - would start in August.

Sir Kenneth Branagh won an Oscar for his autobiographical film Belfast

Hurst Lodge in Bagshot Road was vacated in 2018 to merge with Hawley Place School in Blackwater, with teaching now taking place in Yateley Hall, Hampshire.

The application noted that Hurst Lodge was previously used "to film scenes for Belfast, the 2021 Oscar-winning film based on true events from Kenneth Branagh's childhood" - which was produced by Nuncle Films' other director, Tamar Thomas.

Planning officers granted permission for filming on Thursday 5 September, although filming had already begun.

The report said filming would end on Friday 20 September, and that the site would be cleared by 4 October.

Officers said the development would not normally be acceptable on greenbelt land but that the temporary nature of the development, and the fact that the site is screened by trees, limited the harm.

They also said this harm was outweighed by "very special circumstances" justified by the economic benefits filming would bring to the area.