Wyre Forest News
Severn Valley Railway in demand for films and TV
7:30am Thursday 23rd February 2012
SEVERN Valley Railway is in demand for films and television productions.
After making an appearance in December's box office hit Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, film crews were on set again on the Kidderminster to Bridgnorth steam heritage line last week.
The filming was for upcoming BBC 2 drama Dancing on the Edge, directed by acclaimed playwright and dramatist Stephen Poliakoff.
Severn Valley Railway’s Kidderminster station doubles as Folkestone in the show, where trains are seen arriving and departing for Dover. The Bewdley station was also used to film night shots for the TV drama.
The five-part series is set in the 1930s and follows black jazz musicians the Louis Lester Band, who find fame in upper-class London.
When the city’s more progressive socialists take the band under their wing they are involved in a suspected murder.
Severn Valley Railway general manager Nick Ralls said: “This is another important endorsement of the railway and its ability to provide time-warp film settings to order.”
The filming follows an appearance by the heritage line’s iconic Victoria Bridge, which crosses the River Severn near Arley, in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
Viewers saw Sherlock push Dr Watson’s new wife Mary from a steam train as it thundered across the 200ft iron span in an effort to save her from Professor James Moriarty.
The sequence was filmed during three days in October, 2010, although the steam train and actors were doctored on to the bridge using computer technology.
The film was shown in cinemas during December, 2011 and January this year and will be released on DVD in May.
The bridge has also previously appeared in films The Seven Per Cent Solution in 1976 and The Thirty Nine Steps in 1978.
On the small screen, Severn Valley Railway has been used for filming dramas and documentaries including God’s Wonderful Children in 1980 and The 4.50 from Paddington in 1987.