High five for city as drama hits small screen

A GRIPPING original drama filmed in Liverpool will be hitting Sky 1 this Friday.
The Five, by bestselling author Harlan Coben, is a  crime thriller which follows a group of friends haunted by the disappearance, some years earlier, of the younger brother of one of the group while he was in their care.

Starring Tom Cullen (Downton Abbey), O-T Fagbenle (Looking), Lee Ingleby (Inspector George Gently) and Sarah Solemani (Bad Education) cast and crew, which over the course of the filming was in excess of 100 people, spent more than seven months in the city bringing an estimated economic impact of £2m to the local economy.

A variety of city centre locations, which will become a fictitious city in the programme, were used for the ten-part drama, including inside the Cunard Building, and filming also took place in the former Holly Lodge School site in West Derby.

The Five has been produced by RED Production Company which is behindproductions including Sally Wainwright’s Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax.

Nicola Shindler, executive producer and founder of RED Production Company, said: “Liverpool and its’ surrounding area provided the perfect backdrop to The Five.

“We needed a location that would give us a fictitious town and a diverse range of locations – from luxurious suburban homes to dark urban landscapes. The city became an important part of the tone and feel of the show and, logistically, was a great place to shoot.”

Lynn Saunders, Liverpool’s film office manager, said: “It was a huge coup for the city to be selected as the main filming location for what is set to be one of Sky One’s flagship dramas.

“We had fantastic feedback from the production team regarding their Liverpool experience, with the choice of locations and the fact there was a dedicated Film Office on hand to help them out when needed really standing out for them.”

Filming in Liverpool in 2015 was up 20% compared to 2014, with 230 productions being filmed in the city which resulted in 998 film days in the city. This brought in more than £11.5m to the local economy.

As well as The Five, projects included feature films Florence Foster Jenkins starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant and Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. A Stephen Poliakoff drama Close to the Enemy and ITV’s supernatural crime drama Houdini and Doyle were also filmed in Liverpool last year.

The Five premieres on Sky 1 with a double bill on Friday 15 April at 9pm.

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