STARS of the hit ITV drama Distant Shores are returning to north Northumberland to start shooting the next series at the beginning of June.
The faces of Peter Davison, who plays Dr Bill Shore, and Samantha Bond, who plays his wife Lisa, are set to become familiar faces on the streets of Alnwick once again when they return to start four months of filming on June 6.
Distant Shores is se
t on the imaginary island of Hildasay, just off the Northumberland coast, and had viewers gripped with its comical story lines when it was aired last year.
While most of the cast will remain the same as in the first series, a few new faces will be appearing on screen.
One of the new characters is a quirky reporter who runs a one-man show at the Hildasay Times, and where better to turn to for inspiration than the Northumberland Gazette itself.
Members of the Distant Shores production team visited the Gazette offices to see how a real rural newspaper is run and to get some ideas for the set of the show’s newsroom.
Maddy Turnbull, art director, said: “Looking round here has definitely given us some ideas.”
The new series will continue using locations from the first series, such as Craster, Bamburgh and Boulmer, but will also feature a new location, Druridge Bay.
The set and offices will be built at Willowburn Industrial Estate in a unit behind House of Hardy, where filming will take place until the beginning of October.
The cast and crew are eager to get stuck in to the new scripts and are delighted to be returning to this secluded part of the country.
Neal Hirst, location manager, said: “The cast and crew thought it was fantastic. The majority of them live in London so it’s the complete opposite to their normal environment and they are happy to come back.
“It’s absolutely stunning up here and visually it offers everything we wanted like beautiful beaches and castles.”
The first three hour long episodes of the six-episode series have already been written and will be filmed in June and July, and a three week break from filming in August will provide time to plan the next three which will be filmed throughout September.
The cast and crew will be staying in a variety of accommodation across Northumberland, including The White Swan, caravans, rented cottages and B&Bs.
The second series of Distant Shores will be screened next spring.
