Essex film office: Council wants county 'top of the list'

Tom Hiddleston and Claire Danes featured in the adaptation of Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent, filmed along the county's coastline

A dedicated movie office is being set up to ensure Essex is "at the top of the list of great places to film".

Essex County Council has appointed a film officer who will promote the county to location managers and liaise with Creative UK.

Councils in Kent and Suffolk have already established similar offices.

Apple TV's The Essex Serpent and Mission: Impossible - Fallout were both filmed in the county in recent years.

Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent, spoke about showing the world a version of Essex, here seen at Alresford Creek near Colchester, "that is kind of beyond the mockery that we're all used to"

"Essex has some of the most diverse and beautiful landscapes in the UK and currently our coast is of particular interest to directors and location managers," said Erica Gilson, the council's marketing and business development manager.

"We need to ensure that we're getting Essex out there and that we're at the top of the list of great places to film."

Ms Gilson, speaking at a council committee meeting earlier in October, also said the office would help minimise disruption to local residents and businesses during filming.

Shots from Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible - Fallout were filmed at Thorndon Country Park in Brentwood

The British Film Institute estimated that film and TV producers spent a record £5.64bn in the UK in 2021.

Shots for the 2013 Hollywood movie, World War Z, starring Brad Pitt, were filmed at Hanningfield Reservoir near Chelmsford, while Thorndon Country Park in Brentwood was used for a scene in the 2018 Mission Impossible film.

As well as in The Essex Serpent, an adaptation of the Sarah Perry novel starring Tom Hiddleston and Claire Danes, the county's coastline was also featured in shots for the 2017 ITV drama, Liar.

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A scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which was set in Venice, included shots from Tilbury Docks.

Most recently, Colchester Utd's football stadium was used in the filming of an Indian movie production.