Kersey: Village pub thrown a 'lifeline' by Magpie Murders series

The Bell Inn, in Kersey, was changed to The Queens Arms when the Magpie Murders was filmed in May 2021

The filming of a new television drama threw a "lifeline" to a village pub that was forced to close during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Bell Inn, in Kersey, Suffolk, was used as one of the locations of the BritBox series, the Magpie Murders.

Wendy Gray, its landlady at the time, said the film company hired the building and car park for two weeks.

She said the timing was "fortuitous" as due to the restrictions, in May 2021, it could only open outside.

The Magpie Murders, an original murder mystery for the streaming site BritBox, stars Lesley Manville (right)

Ms Gray, who ran the pub with her sister Janet Woollard, said: "It was an awkward time for us, we'd only been able to open up outside, after the third Covid lockdown, so it was a fortuitous time to be shut, it brought a lifeline to us."

She said it was a positive experience as filming "was great fun", and the pub walls were repainted.

The TV series is an adaptation of bestselling writer Anthony Horowitz's crime thriller that was partially set in the county.

Lesley Manville and Tim McMullan during filming in the middle of The Street, Kersey

Ms Woollard, who lives in the village, said, "It's going to be good for the pub and the village, and that's what everyone needs now.

"It's a stunning little village and it will be great to see it on TV."

She said it will bring in more tourists.

"The first episode of Lovejoy was filmed here, and people still come here because of that," she added.

The hit TV series Lovejoy, starring Ian McShane, was filmed in Suffolk in the 1980s and 1990s

Jim Horsfield, Screen Suffolk's operations and business development manager, said they were contacted by Eleventh Hour Films who wanted to film a "quintessential Suffolk Village".

Several locations were looked at but Kersey, close to Hadleigh, was chosen.

The Magpie Murders is described as a "murder mystery within a murder mystery"

"It's such a lovely village with so many period features, and once the art department had painted houses and placed period cars you feel transported to the 1950's," he said.

"Filming like this brings considerable money into the district and gives local people the opportunity to work in the burgeoning film and TV industry in the county."

The production company recently said 2021 was its most successful year when 240 days of filming for television and films took place.

The Magpie Murders will be streamed online from 10 February.

Everyone involved in the filming of the Magpie Murders was "really, really nice" said Wendy Gray