The summer holidays have seen The King’s School transformed into a television set for the filming of a long-running children’s TV series. Such has been the scale of the production with a small army descending on the town, it is estimated to be adding up to £250,000 to the local economy throughout their hectic two-month filming schedule.
Using King’s new campus in Prestbury as the main location for the eight-week school holiday season, the crew are making 10 episodes, which will be edited over Autumn and Winter and broadcast on CBBC and iPlayer.
The production has seen a small army descend on King’s with a core team of around 55 crew including camera operators, sound engineers, lighting, costume and make up staff, with 10 main cast and up to another 50 supporting artists, with 10 extra crew on set piece days.
They arrive early to start filming at 8am and carry on until 7pm. The school’s own Drama Studio has been rebuilt as the fictitious head teacher’s office, new art work and signage has been installed throughout the corridors and entrances, and King’s main Jackson Hall taken over by a mass of the latest tech for each day’s filming. As well as three HGVs on the King’s site, a large Art Department has been built at Macclesfield Rugby Club to service the TV filming.
They chose King’s to stay ahead of the times, as Richard Everiss, Line Producer, explained: “In the past, we have filmed in unused old schools but they were beginning to look out-of-date, as so many schools have been replaced by the new generation of academies, so King’s gives us that perfect, contemporary setting. From the early rushes, it is clear that the new campus here has taken the show to the next level.”
“It also allows us to use some of the King’s pupils and other children from the town who want to be involved as supporting artistes.”
Richard, who has also recently worked on Waterloo Road and Brassic, has temporarily relocated from his home to Macclesfield and says he loves the town. “It’s unspoilt, has a lot of its original architecture and is a great place to live with lots of things to do and great restaurants. I’m loving living here.”
He adds, “Something this scale always makes a massive contribution to the local economy. You might think, with King’s being the main location, that they would be the only ones to benefit but it is estimated that we will have put up to £250,000 into the wider local economy by the time we leave. The cast and crew are using local hotels and houses that we are renting, and we source as much as we can locally, including things like the materials for our sets.”
He added: “That’s why cities like Manchester and Liverpool try so hard to attract film and television companies to their streets, and alongside cities such as Glasgow and Bristol have become significant production hubs for the industry. ”
Caroline Johnson, King’s Director of External Relations, said: “It is fantastic for Macclesfield to be chosen as the location for a long running and much-loved TV show. Its fascinating for the staff and pupils who are in school to get a fly on wall perspective of modern filming and TV production. The pupils who are working as ‘extras’ are learning so much from the experience and some of our Sixth Formers are doing work experience with the crew. One or two staff have also negotiated some cameo appearances!”
The filming wraps up at the end of August, ready for pupils and staff to return for the new academic year.
PHOTO CAPTIONS:
Pictured are Director Jason Wingard with Producer Richard Everiss.
Pictured is Line Producer Richard Everiss.
Pictured are actor Alex Carter and Make up designer Caroline Rose.
