Film / cinema
The Balmoral sails on to the big screen
Bristol’s historic docks feature in a new film released on Friday, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.
Directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Four Weddings and a Funeral), the film is based on the bestselling novel of the same name and tells the story of a successful writer who impulsively leaves London after World War Two for Guernsey.
Blink and you might miss it, but Bristol and the Balmoral also feature in the film’s trailer:
is needed now More than ever
Filmmakers recreated a 1940s dockside at Princes Wharf next to the M Shed, which in Guernsey will be doubling for Weymouth Docks following the shooting in April 2017 which was facilitated by Bristol Film Office.
M Shed curator of industrial and maritime history, Andy King, said: “Bristol made a brave and, at the time, controversial decision in the 1990s to conserve Princes Wharf as a working quayside.
“With the museum’s operational cranes, steam railway and transit shed, it now makes an ideal and animated backdrop for film productions like this, and one that is unique in the UK.”
Princes Wharf was transformed into a 1940s dockside – photo courtesy of Bristol Film Office
Back in December 2015, Princes Wharf was transformed into wartime St Helier for a major scene in British World War Two drama Another Mother’s Son.
The Balmoral is also set to feature in another film, Stan & Ollie, which is due out in January 2019.
But the ship will not be sailing this year, with almost £4m needed to make urgent repair work.
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