The production team behind a new Bristol-filmed BBC comedy-drama has praised the city for its commitment to representation and talent development on both sides of the camera.
Boarders was filmed entirely in Bristol and the South West with support from Bristol Film Office last year.
The six-part high energy series follows the lives of five talented Black South London teenagers who find themselves navigating their way through an alien world – the British public school system.
The main filming site for the series was Clifton College, with Bristol Film Office working closely with London-based independent television production company Studio Lambert to provide nearby production offices and parking for the crew during the five-month shoot.
But as well as assisting with locations, Bristol Film Office liaised closely with the production team to connect it with local crew talent, including Bristol company Latent Pictures, which runs a paid development programme for underrepresented filmmakers.
Of the 90 or so crew members who worked on the production on an average day, more than 55% came from Bristol and the South West, including a large number of trainees and young people from communities underrepresented in the TV industry.
Latent Pictures, a Bristol-based company working with underrepresented filmmakers, was commissioned to produce all Studio Lambert’s ‘behind-the-scenes’ footage, while a number of trainees from the industry’s ScreenSkills scheme worked in hair/makeup, in the sound and assistant director departments and as shadow directors on set.
Studio Lambert executive producer Madeleine Sinclair said: “The premise of the show is about access to opportunity and that was important to reflect in the production and crew.
“With the help of the Bristol Film Office, we aimed to attract local talent and give opportunities to those from underrepresented backgrounds across the crew.
“I think it was hugely valuable to the production because we had some really fantastic people and it made for a really interesting and buzzy set with crew from a whole range of backgrounds, who each brought their own different experiences.”
Latent Pictures executive producer Prince Taylor added: “Collaborating with All3Media and Studio Lambert to create an engaging EPK (electronic press kit) was a great experience not only for the team, but for all of the Latent Talent we were able to provide paid training for.
“We could see how representation and authenticity were priorities for all involved and this helped create a learning environment that meant our trainees could really thrive, connecting with what they were learning and the wider teams involved.”
Among those working on the production was 23-year-old camera trainee Jojo Bossman from Bedminster.
Jojo said: “Boarders was definitely the most diverse show or feature I’ve ever worked on, which was wonderful.
It was a really significant milestone for me in that it was the first long-form job created by and starring Black people I’ve worked on.”
Boarders was created and written by Bafta-nominated Daniel Lawrence Taylor (Timewasters). It follows students Jaheim (Josh Tedeku), Leah (Jodie Campbell), Omar (Myles Kamwendo), Toby (Sekou Diaby) and Femi (Aruna Jalloh), who are offered sixth form scholarships to St Gilbert’s, one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious schools, in an attempt to rehabilitate its image.
They soon find themselves in a world they can only describe as something out of Harry Potter, surrounded by lush playing fields, cloistered grandeur and complex social rules which they must decipher quickly in order to survive.
Other Bristol locations used in the filming included Ashton Court, Redcliff Hill, Stokes Croft, St Nicholas Market and Carolina House, a high-rise block of flats on Dove Street. Filming for interiors also took place on sets built at South Bristol’s Bottle Yard Studios.
Further afield in the region, filming took place at Chavenage House, an Elizabethan manor house near Tetbury and in Weston-super-Mare.
