Locations: Moat Lane, Church Street, Great Charles Street, Solihull
Cast: Sebastian “Bas” Keep
Fimmaker: Matty Lambert
Production Company: Red Bull
BMX daredevil Sebastian Keep defies gravity by performing hair-raising stunts in Birmingham. The talented star, who is sponsored by Red Bull, chose the UK’s Second City for his latest project because of its “perfect architecture”.
You Don’t Know Me
Locations: Druids Heath, Allison Street, National Exhibition Centre, Waterloo Street, Priory Rooms, Redditch
Cast: Samuel Adewunmi, Sophie Wilde, Roger Jean Nsengiyumva, Duayne Boachie, Bukky Bakray, Michael Balogun, Yetunde Oduwole
Director: Sarmad Masud
Production Company: BBC, Snowed-In Productions
A young man from London stands in court, accused of murder. Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, he swears he’s innocent. But in the end, all that matters is… does the jury believe him?
The Colour Room
Locations: Victoria Square, Cornwall Street, The Council House Banqueting Suite, Corporation Street, St Philips Cathedral, Temple Street, Birmingham and Stoke
Cast: Pheobe Dyvenor, Matthew Goode, David Morrissey, Rachel Shenton, Kerry Fox, Bronwyn James, Darci Shaw, Tony Pitts, Luke Norris
Director: Claire McCarthy
Production Company: Caspian Films, Creative England
Clarice Cliff breaks the glass ceiling and revolutionizes the workplace at a pottery factory in 1920s England.
All That Glitters
Locations: Vittoria Street, Regent Street, Regent Place, Birmingham
Presenter: Katherine Ryan
Director: James Morgan
Production Company: Twenty Twenty Productions
Cast: Beanie Feldstein, Alfie Allen, Paddy Considine, Emma Thompson, Sarah Solemani
Katherine Ryan invites eight jewellers to the All That Glitters workshop in Birmingham to face two challenges, all to prove they are the next big name in jewellery.
How to Build a Girl
Locations: Warstones Estate, Wolverhampton
Director: Coky Giedroyc
Cast: Beanie Feldstein, Alfie Allen, Paddy Considine, Emma Thompson, Sarah Solemani
Wolverhampton 1993. Johanna Morrigan, 16, yearns to better her working-class destiny. So she reinvents herself as the fast-talking impossible-to-please rock critic, Dolly Wilde. Watch Johanna’s comedic rise to the top of 90s music scene. Based on the bestselling book by Times columnist, Caitlin Moran.
Enola Holmes
Locations: Benthall Hall, Broseley, Arley Station, Kidderminster
Director: Harry Bradbeer
Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Louis Partridge, Helena Bonham Carter, Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin
When Enola Holmes-Sherlock’s teen sister-discovers her mother missing, she sets off to find her, becoming a super-sleuth in her own right as she outwits her famous brother and unravels a dangerous conspiracy around a mysterious young Lord.
Rap Game UK
Locations: Birmingham City Centre, Eastside City Park, Salisbury Tower, Bullring Market, Birmingham Rag Market, Edgbaston Reservoir, Pel Crescent, Sandwell
Rap legends DJ Target, Krept and Konan hunt for the next big MC to take over the scene as six newcomers battle for one record deal.
Small Axe
Locations: Goldthorn Avenue, Wolverhampton,
Director: Steve McQueen
Cast: John Boyega, Letitia Wright, Alex Jennings, Rochenda Sandall.
Small Axe is directed by the Oscar and BAFTA winning writer and director Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave, Widows). The BBC’s new period drama anthology series is set within London’s West Indian community from the late 1960s to the early ’80s. Spanning three decades, the story begins at the moment of Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech in 1968.
The series tells the story of a residents in Ladbroke Grove who meet at a restaurant called The Mangrove which becomes a community space and as the years go on a meeting-point for protestors.
Peaky Blinders
Locations: Black Country Living Museum
Director: Colm McCarthy, Tim Mielants, David Caffrey, Anthony Byrne, Otto Bathurst, Tom Harper
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Finn Cole, Annabelle Wallis, Helen McCrory Joe Cole, Sam Neill, Paul Anderson, Sophie Rundle. Full cast here.
BBC One’s Peaky Blinders is written by Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things, Eastern Promises, Locke), an Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated and BIFA-winning screenwriter. Throughout the seasons, it has been directed by Colm McCarthy, Tim Mielants, David Caffrey, Anthony Byrne, Otto Bathurst and Tom Harper.
Peaky Blinders is an epic gangster drama set in the lawless streets of 1920s Birmingham, England, in 1919, several months after the end of the First World War in November 1918. The story centres on the Peaky Blinders gang and their ambitious and highly cunning boss Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy).
Dark Mon£y
Locations: The Studio at The Library of Birmingham (Centenary Square), Millennium Point and Curzon Street Studios (Curzon Street), Birmingham Hippodrome (Hurst Street), 55 Colmore Row (B3 2AA), Alpha Works (Suffolk Street), Spaces Crossway (Great Charles Street), Impact Hub (Oxford Street), Digbeth Arena (Lower Trinity Street), St Paul’s Square (Jewellery Quarter), Archbishop Ilsley Catholic School (Acocks Green), Cannon Hill Park (Moseley/Edgbaston), The NEC (Marston Green), Private addresses in the Jewellery Quarter, Ladywood, Moseley, Sutton Coldfield, Stechford and Solihull, Kidderminster Hospital (Bewdley Road and Cars4u (New Road).
Director: Lewis Arnold
Cast: Babou Ceesay, Jill Halfpenny, Max Fincham, Rebecca Front, Susan Wokoma, Olive Gray and Ellen Thomas.
BBC One’s Dark Mon£y is written by the BAFTA-nominated writer of Damilola, Our Loved Boy, Levi David Addai; and directed by Lewis Arnold (Broadchurch, Humans), Dark Mon£y tells the fictional story of The Mensahs, an ordinary working-class family from North London whose youngest son has recently finished filming a major Hollywood movie role.
But Manny (Ceesay) and Sam’s (Halfpenny) world is shattered when Isaac reveals he was abused whilst out in America by a renowned filmmaker. Although guilt-ridden, the family decide to accept a substantial pay-off to keep silent, believing the money will help start a new life, enable them to heal and avoid the publicity hell of pressing charges against a celebrity.
But the damage runs deep, and the cost of remaining silent may be too high.
Ready Player One
Locations: Jewellery Quarter (Newhall Street, Henrietta Street, Ludgate Hill, Lionel Street, Mary Anne Street, Livery Street, Water Street), Digbeth (the Typhoo Factory, Floodgate Street, Little Anne Street, River Street), Spaghetti Junction (by the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity & St Luke)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance
UK Release Date: 29th March 2018
Based on Ernest Cline’s bestseller of the same name, Ready Player One is set in 2045, with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse. But the people have found salvation in the OASIS, an expansive virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance).
Filming for Ready Player One took place in Autumn 2016 at numerous Birmingham city centre locations including the historic Jewellery Quarter, fashionable industrial district Digbeth and the city’s famous road interchange Spaghetti Junction.
In recent interviews for Ready Player One Director Steven Spielberg praised Birmingham for its versatility:
“There’s few places in England that can pass for America and Birmingham filled the bill.”
“It looked like it could be a city from the past or a city from the future. We had a great time filming in Birmingham, the people there were really wonderful.”
Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Locations: Birmingham City Centre (Waterloo Street, Edmund Street, Colmore Row, Margaret Street, Cornwall Street)
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Halle Berry, Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges
UK Release Date: 20th September 2017
When their headquarters are destroyed and the world is held hostage, the Kingsman’s journey leads them to the discovery of an allied spy organisation in the US. In the highly-anticipated sequel to Kingsman: The Secret, these two elite secret organisations must band together to defeat a common enemy.
Filming for Kingsman: The Golden Circle took place in May 2016 with Birmingham doubling for London in a dramatic car chase between a black cab and three golden jaguars – as seen in this TV spot.
American Assassin
Location: Jewellery Quarter (Ludgate Hill, Lionel Street, Water Street), Birmingham Council House (courtyard), Margaret Street.
Director: Michael Cuesta
Cast: Dylan O’Brien, Michael Keaton, Taylor Kitsch
UK Release Date: 14th September 2017
When Cold War veteran Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton) takes CIA black ops recruit Mitch Rapp (Dylan O’Brien) under his wing, they receive an assignment to investigate a wave of random attacks on both military and civilian targets. After discovering a pattern of violence, Hurley and Rapp join forces with a lethal Turkish agent to stop a mysterious operative who wants to start a global war.
The filming for American Assassin took place in December 2016 with parts of the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham city centre doubling for Warsaw, Poland in a series of explosive action sequences.
Man Like Mobeen
Locations: Small Heath, Balsall Heath, Digbeth
Director: Ollie Parsons
Cast: Guz Khan, Tez Ilyas, Duaa Karim, Tolu Ogunmefun
BBC Three’s Man Like Mobeen tells the story of Mobeen (Guz Khan), a 28-year-old from Small Heath in Birmingham, who wants to follow his faith, lead a good life, and make sure his younger sister fulfils her potential. But can he juggle these when his criminal past and reputation is always chasing him?
The show’s creator and star Guz Khan hails from Birmingham and Man Like Mobeen was exclusively shot on location near to his home turf of Small Heath.
Lloyds Bank: By Your Side
Locations: Jewellery Quarter (Warstone Lane), The Library of Birmingham
The iconic black horse returned to TV screens in Lloyds Bank’s recent ad campaign celebrating the resilience of the British people. Two key sequences were shot on location in Birmingham – the black horse is seen running through The Library of Birmingham and down Warstone Lane in the historic Jewellery Quarter.
One Born Every Minute
Location: Birmingham Women’s Hospital, Edgbaston
Series 11 of Channel 4’s One Born Every Minute follows the journey of more than 30 parents-to-be at the UK’s busiest single site maternity unit at Birmingham Women’s Hospital.
Red Bull: 5-A-Side
Red Bull hosted the national final of their global five-a-side tournament in Birmingham. The football competition lead by the Brazilian football supremo Neymar Jr. was held at a secret location in the city centre.
Nationwide: The Birth of the Building Society
Nationwide launched the next film as part of their Voices campaign with this latest TV spot, “The Birth of the Building Society”. Telling the true story of how building societies came to be, it’s a compelling account of the very beginnings of the social movement that started in 1775. The poem shows us what happens when every day people help everyday people and is a perfect encapsulation of the Nationwide ethos.
