Member Article

Screen Yorkshire finances BBC One’s ‘Jamaica Inn’ adaptation

A dramatic screen adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s gothic novel Jamaica Inn, funded by Screen Yorkshire, premiered in the prime-time evening slot on BBC One this Easter Monday.

The three part TV drama produced by Origin Pictures for BBC One has been adapted by Emma Frost and directed by BAFTA award-winning director Philippa Lowthorpe.

Funding from Screen Yorkshire’s Yorkshire Content Fund ensured that a significant part of the production filmed on location in Yorkshire, with filming also taking place in Cornwall, where the novel is set, and Cumbria.

Screen Yorkshire invested in Jamaica Inn through its Yorkshire Content Fund, which launched in February 2012 and is having a “major impact” on production levels in the region.

The Yorkshire Content Fund is the largest regional production fund in the UK, and has received £15m from the European Regional Development Fund into growing TV, film, games and digital business across Yorkshire and Humber.

Production offices for Jamaica Inn were based at North Light Studios in Huddersfield.

Scenes for the inn itself were filmed at Crow Edge, Penistone in Barnsley. Other Yorkshire locations to appear in the drama include, St James Church in Bradford, Farnley Tyas, Tong and Keighley.

Hugo Heppell, head of investments at Screen Yorkshire and executive producer on Jamaica Inn, says: “[Jamaica Inn] features fabulous performances and brilliant production design from Grant Montgomery, showcasing the world class talent that our region has to offer film and TV producers .’’

Producer David Thompson says: ’’We were thrilled to have the opportunity to revisit Yorkshire to film large parts of ‘Jamaica Inn’, which is a particularly rich source for period locations, providing us with huge possibilities to adapt this much loved novel for the screen.

“We also love working with the Yorkshire crews who we have found to be so dedicated and passionate about their work. Screen Yorkshire has been incredibly supportive, playing a critical role in supporting us to bring productions such as ‘Jamaica Inn’ to life, through provision of crucial equity funding in a marketplace where investment can still be very hard to find’’.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .