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tv production
All Mulch
& Mayhem
Cry ‘Murder Most Floral’ and
let slip those gardening sleuths Rosemary & Thyme for a third series of the ITV hit show
If it’s summer, it must be time for production of another series – the third, no less – of the popular ITV comedy- thriller, Rosemary & Thyme, co-starring Felicity Kendal and Pam Ferris. In fact, this latest
eight-episode helping of horticulture and homicide, featuring those green-fingered sleuths Rosemary Boxer (Kendal) and Laura Thyme (Ferris), actually began shooting way back in March with a couple of shows filmed in the South of Spain.
Director of Photography Paul Englefield, a series’ regular along with his operator Jamie Harcourt and many of the crew, explained: “We needed to kick off with some guaranteed reason- able weather and, of course, the foreign flavour also adds a lot to it.
“Last year, we filmed on the France-Italy border. This time round, we were in the Malaga area. One of the episodes takes place at a house in the hills, the other at a tennis club. A lot of the filming was about 45 minutes drive from the town, with spectacular and far-reaching views across the val- ley. We also used Malaga’s wonderful Moorish fort to help set the scene.
“Why are Rosemary and Thyme there? They’re world travellers, as you know. They pitch up somewhere then,
lo and behold, there’s a garden for them to do and, of course, someone inevitably gets murdered,” laughed Englefield, who is also re-united on this series with the same directors from last time out, Brian Farnham and Simon Langton.
After Spain, the remaining episodes, including a one-and-a-half hour opener, are firmly based back in the UK. Shooting has already been completed on another three with a brief hiatus before a final gallop towards completion of production at the end of this month (August).
According to producer Brian Eastman of Carnival Films: “Rosemary & Thyme depends on its look, as well as its storylines, for its popularity. So we are always trying to find the best way to show off the gardens and their surroundings.
“This year we are aiming for as much clarity as we can achieve in our pictures. We want the audience to be able to see the flowers in detail, even from a distance. We are trying to stop our backgrounds from becoming just an impression, and to capture on film what looks so good to the naked eye.”
What caught Englefield’s eye on the first phase of this series was a chance to film, albeit briefly, in Chichester’s his- toric cathedral for one of the episodes.
Photo: Felicity Kendal and Pam Ferris in Rosemary & Thyme Fujifilm Motion Picture • The Magazine • Exposure • 11
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