Bristol is hosting an all-star cast of some of Britain’s most-respected actors to make new British heist movie Golden Years.
Filming is now underway at the city’s Bottle Yard Studios in Hengrove and areas around Bristol for the MoliFilms Entertainment production. 
Sets have been built in The Bottle Yard’s Tank House 2 space and the full shoot is being coordinated from the studio complex’s production offices.
The Bristol Film Office has supported the production by arranging filming at city locations such as the bank buildings around St Nicholas Market, including the former Bank of England on Broad Street and banks on Clare Street and Corn Street.
Bowling club scenes are being shot at The Ardagh Sports Club at Horfield Common, while unit bases have been set up at Redcliffe Wharf and Horfield Common. Bristol Film Office has also used social media to recruit more than 100 local people to appear as extras.
Golden Years has been written by TV presenter Nick Knowles, Jeremy Sheldon and writer/director John Miller. It brings together some of Britain’s best-loved actors including Bernard Hill (Wolf Hall, Lord of the Rings) and Virginia McKenna (Born Free, Sliding Doors), Sue Johnston (Downtown Abbey, Royle Family), Alun Armstrong (Braveheart, New Tricks), Simon Callow (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Amadeus), Brad Moore (The Rise, North V South), Una Stubbs (Sherlock), Phil Davies (Vera Drake, Notes on a Scandal), Ellen Thomas (Teachers) and Mark Williams (Harry Potter, Father Brown).
It is produced by Mark Foligno (The Kings Speech, The Rise) and associate-produced by Lucy Selwood, Tanya Beadle and Jolien Buijs.
The Bottle Yard Studios site director Fiona Francombe said: “After a string of high-profile TV productions, it’s fantasti
c to be able to host an independent homegrown movie, filmed right here in Bristol, starring such an impressive cast of well-known talented British actors.
“The Bottle Yard Studios is now firmly embedded in Bristol’s filmmaking infrastructure and it’s great to work with our partners across the city to help bring locally shot features like this to the screen.”
Natalie Moore of Bristol Film Office added: “We’re always happy to help filmmakers looking to use Bristol as a beautiful backdrop to tell their story. Golden Years is using a range of locations from our historic centre, which we know will look really impressive on screen.
“We’ve also been delighted to help the production recruit extras by putting a call out locally. We’ve had a fantastic response from the Bristol public, which is not surprising – after all it’s not every day you get offered the chance to star on the big screen alongside the likes of Bernard Hill and Una Stubbs.”
In the film Bernard Hill and Virginia McKenna play law-abiding, retired couple Arthur and Martha Goode who are forced into a life of crime by fate, the pensions crisis and their steadfast refusal to accept the injustice of old age.
Refusing to take the loss of their pensions lying down and to fade away into their declining years, they decide to fight back. They realise that under the invisible cloak of old age they might be able to rob banks in order to help save their community and local bowls club and maybe get away with it?
The Bottle Yard Studios has emerged in recent years as a leading centre for film and TV production outside London, attracting a host of major UK and international productions, including most recently BBC One drama Poldark, BBC Two drama Wolf Hall, BBC One drama Sherlock, and Disney/ABC Studios’ musical comedy Galavant.
