In the final story to mark the 40th anniversary of Chatham Dockyard’s closure, we look at how it has become a regular backdrop for major Hollywood movies and TV shows.

Now one of the county’s most popular tourist attractions, it has been totally reinvented over the last four decades.

On March 30, 1984, Chatham Dockyard’s gates closed – ending 400 years of the Royal Navy's presence in the town and the surrounding area.

Over the years, the Dockyard has found new life as a multi-use venue for visitors, businesses, residents and as a location set for Hollywood blockbusters and Netflix favourites like The Crown and Call the Midwife.

It was first used as a film location in 1989 for the television show Great Expectations (Disney Channel).

The following year the Ropery’s exteriors featured in the film The Mill on the Floss.

In 1999 big-budget Hollywood came to the Dockyard for ‘The Mummy’ and the same year saw James Bond chase down the Medway in a boat and film at the Dockyard for The World is Not Enough.

Olivia Horner, director of commercial and operations at the Historic Dockyard, is in charge of liaising with film and music video inquiries.

She said: “Filming for us is really important - it’s income that goes directly back into our charity to help preserve our site and historic buildings.

“Filming also plays a significant role in helping us reach new audiences and engage people who wouldn’t typically visit the Dockyard.

For Call The Midwife, we attract 15,000 visitors each year who come to see us for the location tour, but what we end up seeing is repeat visitation when they experience what we have here in Chatham.”

Over a fairly short timespan, Hollywood blockbusters, popular television shows and mini-series have been filmed there.

Olivia says inquiries differ in size and scope: “A filming inquiry can be a crew of three or four and they only need space for a day, all the way through to a production needing unit bases, space for hair and make-up, and crowd holding.

“We assess the impact filming has on our historic ships and spaces and we take it on an inquiry-by-inquiry basis.

“We would never take forward an inquiry that would put anything of the site at risk.”

Explaining why the Dockyard is so popular for location managers, Olivia added: “We are a safe, secure site with lots of space, we can accommodate large crowd holding, tech parking, unit base, and we also have popup spaces that crews can use for production offices.

“But the most captivating feature we have is our authentic backdrop - we can be perfect for period dramas, and also for more alternative genres/dystopia.”

The BBC’s Call The Midwife has filmed in Chatham for 13 series.

Olivia explained: “It holds a special place in my heart - as a product and a brand it aligns so well with us as an organisation.

“The exploration of challenging subjects increases awareness and allows audiences to connect with the stories they share.

“We know that when the Midwife production team arrives for filming, they respect our historic assets and engage brilliantly with our visitors - it’s a long-standing relationship that we’ve had for 13 series now and it’s really important to us.”

Created in partnership with award-winning television production company, Neal Street Productions, the Call The Midwife Official Location Tour at The Historic Dockyard Chatham is the only one of its kind in the world.

Visitors to the tour are guided through the site by their very own costumed Midwife, armed with a photograph book and tales of their ‘sisters’, before being allowed to explore the sets, costumes and props in an exclusive gallery.

Big names from stage and screen have been spotted filming at the Dockyard.

Olivia added: “Having the likes of Robert Downey Junior, Tom Hiddleston and Ed Sheehan here, adds another level of excitement and the whole team gets a real buzz out of hosting them.

“You never quite know what you are going to see when there’s filming taking place; you could have the cast of Call The Midwife in Midwife Alley, or Tom Hiddleston running past your window.”

It’s not just the stars of film and television who have been drawn to the dockyard, the music world has used the atmospheric spaces to shoot videos; from Kanye West to The 1975, from Hozier to Ed Sheeran. Tom Cruise even flew in last year to film the latest Mission Impossible.

“Ed Sheeran filmed a series of music videos, in a number of different spaces around the Dockyard on a nautical theme - of which we were perfect for!

“There was a short lead time, we literally had a week and a half to turn it around during spring 2023.

“It was a closed set and we felt very privileged to be part of it, it felt like watching our own private Ed Sheeran concert.”

There have been breaks in filming due to Covid and the more recent actors’ strike, but Olivia says things are getting back on track.

“Starting back after Covid was difficult on the industry - we would have 300 extras and they needed to be socially distanced - but luckily we had the space.”

Read more:

• 1984 closure: The end of one era and the beginning of a new one

• The workers who lives were changed forever by closure

For more on the history of the site, visit the Historic Dockyard Chatham’s website

What are your memories of the Dockyard? Email medway@thekmgroup.co.uk