Norwich Cathedral and Close have provided a range of different interior and exterior locations for films and TV. Most recently
- Peter O'Toole, Sam Neill and Jeremy Northam filmed here for Dean Spanley, a film just released on DVD and
- Boden staged a photoshoot for a new catalogue.
Other period and modern productions filmed at Norwich Cathedral range from the Antiques Roadshow to George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss, from the BBC programme How to build a Cathedral to P.D. James’ Death in Holy Orders.
Why should a film production team want to shoot at Norwich Cathedral?
You immediately think of the wonderful Cathedral building and its unspoilt Cloister. However the forty-four acres of the Close also provide a surprisingly rich and varied source of film backdrop with the added advantages that the forty-four acres are:
- private property, so we can control the traffic – often a major issue for film crews, and
- heritage property, so their external and internal appearance is already tightly regulated (eg no satellite dishes outside and lots of period features inside).
The Close can be anything from a street scene of different periods, to a cottage, to a playing field, to stables.
The Cathedral team are experienced in meeting the needs of film-makers and we extend to them our Benedictine tradition of hospitality. During the recent filming for Dean Spanley Sam Neill, who played Dean Spanley, was given a private tour of the Cathedral by one of our volunteer guides while still in period dress!
Toa Fraser, Director of Dean Spanley describes his time here as follows. 'It was a privilege to work in and with Norwich Cathedral as a key part of the storytelling of Dean Spanley. We used the Cathedral and an old monastic building in the Close, and shot inside and out. On the last day of the shoot, we filmed in the Cathedral cloisters. It had been a tough but fulfilling, happy shoot. It was bitterly cold. We shot a scene in which Jeremy Northam locks horns with his father, Peter O'Toole. It was O'Toole's last moment on set, and as Northam and O'Toole performed their scene we roared our delight. We said our goodbyes, and I sat alone in the cloisters, listening to the choir practising Hark the Herald Angels Sing: a moving moment I'll never forget. We are indebted to The Very Reverend Graham Smith, Philip Thomas and the staff of Norwich Cathedral for their assistance and generosity.'
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