Scenes of a new Netflix series from Hatfield-born director Guy Ritchie were filmed near Potters Bar, at Brocket Hall, and at Knebworth House.
The Gentlemen is released on the streaming site on Thursday, March 7. Inspired by his movie of the same name, Ritchie is director, writer and executive producer of The Gentlemen.
Wrotham Park near Potters Bar was one of the locations used for filming of Ritchie’s eagerly awaited small screen debut, with the mansion used for Uncle Stan’s lavish country pile.
Wrotham Park will be familiar with Netflix viewers as it was also used for scenes of The Crown and doubled for the Bridgerton family's country estate Aubrey Hall in the second series of Bridgerton.
Wrotham Park wasn't the main filming location for Ritchie's new series which sees the director once again team up with Hertfordshire-born footballer-turned-actor Vinnie Jones.
Badminton House, the Gloucestershire seat of the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, doubled for Halstead Manor and was just one of some 80 locations — large and small — that formed the background for The Gentlemen.
Others included Loseley Park, near Guildford, where some of the grand interiors were filmed, The Reform Club in London, which doubled for Pinky’s Club, and the Rotherhithe events space, Printworks, which production manager, Martyn John and his team, used to set up the boxing ring for the illegal fight in Episode 2.
It helped that John had worked with Ritchie on five previous movies.
And with the help of supervising location manager Iggy Ellis and both their teams they were able to find and create the backdrops for the slightly heightened world of Ritchie’s vivid imagination.
Knebworth House, a popular Hertfordshire filming location, was also used for scenes in episode 4.
Brocket Hall's golf course near Welwyn Garden City also features in episode 5, with the second hole on the Melbourne Course and the Palladian Bridge seen on screen.
Posting on Instagram, Brocket Hall wrote: "Number 1 Series on Netflix Top 10!
"Did you spot us in The Gentlemen episode 5? Featuring our beautiful 18th Century Palladian Bridge and filmed on the 2nd on our Melbourne course.
"#NetflixTop10 #PalladianBridge #OnScreen #BehindTheScenes #HistoricLocations #TVShow #NetflixSeries #TheGentlemen #TheoJames"
KEY FILMING LOCATIONS OF THE GENTLEMEN
● Alperton Studios (stage sets)
● Badminton House (Interior/exterior of Halstead Manor)
● Loseley Park (Interior of Halstead Manor / exterior of Halstead woods, lake, Geoff’s cottage)
● Stoke Court (Interior of Halstead study, boot room, drawing room, orangery)
● Wrotham Park (Exterior/interior Bridgewater House)
● Bramshill College (Exteror Leyhill Prison lake, car park, golf course)
● Billingsgate Market (Fish market / Tommy’s office)
● Brandon Estate (Croydon Tower Block)
● St Paul’s Church, Southwark (Church)
● Printworks, Rotherhithe (boxing venue)
● The Reform Club (Pinky’s Club)
“Badminton felt immediately right for Halstead,” Iggy Ellis says, “because it’s a proper, lived in, home, rather than a National Trust museum.
“So inside there’d be some walking sticks by the door or a few shotgun rounds from where they’d been out shooting. There were cracks and tired bits as you’d get in every family home. But there was also oil painting and history and majesty. It felt perfect for our story.
”But, then, I can’t really think of a single location from Badminton to a seedy car park somewhere in London that wasn’t spot on for the shoot. And I’m proud of the fact we didn’t compromise on any of the locations.”
“The manor itself sets the tone of The Gentlemen,” says writer and executive producer Matthew Read. “It really is another character in the show.
“It also connects to the history of aristocracy and to one of the show’s key themes of class.
“So as soon as Eddie turns up at Halstead, you understand so much about his character, his background and his life and when the cocaine dealing Scousers arrive there, the contrast between the two worlds is laid out right before.
"It’s a brilliant shortcut to the heart of the story.”
Although mostly real-life backdrops, Martyn John used Alperton Studios to create some of the interiors — including a council flat in Croydon where Eddie gets physical with one of Tommy Dixon’s goons.
“You could never have filmed that scene in a real council flat because it doesn’t have the space. So we built one three times the size with a corridor, a lift, a kitchen and a bedroom and put a photographic backdrop at the window,” says John.
“When you watch the show you’ll hopefully believe you’re in an actual council flat. I was really pleased with it.”
Great pains were also taken over the creation of the weed farm on the Halstead Estate.
“And it helped that I’d worked on The Gentlemen movie because I was able to use the same research for the series,” says John.
“We had the same marijuana expert on both projects that we call The Dope Man, who is this fantastic font of knowledge about marijuana and everything you need to know about farming it.
“He could have supplied us with real plants but, instead, we used fake ones made from silk leaves shipped to us from China. We used different lighting, according to what stage the plants were meant to be at; blue light when they’re growing, magenta when they were budding.
“We even had 3D seed heads — the bit they need for harvesting — printed. I have one of the fake plants in my loo at home and everyone thinks it's real.”
Both John and Ellis, have their own favourite filming locations. Ellis cites The Magazine Building in Greenwich Peninsula, used to shoot another boxing fight later in the series.
“The building is, basically, a big concrete box but with one side a glass wall, overlooking Canary Wharf. So, at night, it's absolutely stunning,” he says.
"But I’m as proud of the modest stuff, like a small scene where we had to explode a van. My team found that location down by the Thames at the last minute.
"And because of the way Guy likes to work, we often didn’t get much notice. But, somehow, we were able to adapt to these time pressures and, strangely, nothing seemed to suffer as a result.”
The Gentlemen can be seen on Netflix from March 7.
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