TV producers say Deal “fitted the brief perfectly” for a hit crime drama as the seaside town continues to be a magnet for filmmaking.

Unforgotten, which is currently being shown on ITV, was shot in a variety of locations across the town.

Middle Street car park in the town centre was shut off last April for the drama, which sees Sanjeev Bhaskar and Sinéad Keenan star as detectives in a gripping cold case.

Scenes shot in the town also show a star from a past smash-hit comedy series.

This is Michele Dotrice who plays Dot Barnes, a character who lives with a grown-up autistic son Martin Baines (Maximillian Fairley).

Dotrice is most famous as Betty Spencer in the hugely popular mid-1970s comedy Some Mothers Do ‘Ave Em.

A spokesman for ITV said “beautiful Deal fitted the brief perfectly” for their show.

“We needed Martin’s character to live by the coast and wanted a visually interesting and atmospheric location that had a functioning pier and that was close to London, for practical reasons,” they said.

Other shooting in the town was at various private residences as well as Deal Pier, beach, St George’s Church and outside The Port Arms pub.

The programme makers also filmed on the Kingsdown Leas.

The penultimate episode of the current series, which is available on ITVX, will be shown on ITV tonight (Sunday) at 9pm, before the series concludes at the same time tomorrow (Monday).

During the last series, shown from February to April 2023, Unforgotten was the third most-watched drama across all channels and the ninth most-watched show.

“Beautiful Deal fitted the brief perfectly…”

In previous years, both series of the ITV thriller Liar were filmed in Deal in November 2016 and January 2017, and then April and June 2019.

Deal pier and seafront and Mario’s Fish Bar in Walmer were also used in Big Boys Don’t Cry. This was a harrowing drama about child abuse released on Netflix in 2020.

And in April 2021 parts of Deal were transformed for the filming of Pistol, relating to punk legends the Sex Pistols.

Vintage cars were brought in and shop fronts were temporarily changed to show the band’s era of the 1970s.

The TV drama was directed by Danny Boyle, famous for box office classics such as Trainspotting.

TV personalities Ant and Dec filmed in both Deal and Sandwich in October 2023 for an advertisement for the bank Santander.