Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

The Crown becomes latest TV hit to film in north-east as cast and crew head to Macduff

Emma Corrin and Josh O'Connor as Princess Diana and Prince Charles in the most recent season of The Crown.
Emma Corrin and Josh O'Connor as Princess Diana and Prince Charles in the most recent season of The Crown.

Netflix favourite The Crown is to become the latest TV show to film scenes in the north-east, with production set to arrive in Macduff at the start of next week.

Residents of four streets in the Aberdeenshire town received a letter last week to notify them that cast and crew would be arriving on August 2 to shoot at the harbour.

The letter, from the location manager and location assistant of the show’s fifth season, says they have been liaising with “Aberdeen County Council” – really Aberdeenshire Council – and Macduff Harbour Master Duncan Mackie.

It adds they aim to make the day run “as smoothly as possible, causing as little inconvenience to residences and businesses in the area as possible”.

Macduff Harbour, where the filming will take place. Picture by Colin Rennie

Those living and working on Shore Street, Duff Street, Institution Street and Hutcheon Street have been informed that filming will take place on Monday between 12pm and 6pm.

Smash hit series

Through its four seasons, The Crown has grown to become one of the most popular original shows Netflix has ever produced.

Focusing on the story of the British Royal Family – though controversial for its mixing of fact, fiction and speculation – the upcoming fifth season will star Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II and Jonathan Pryce as the Duke of Edinburgh.

The streaming service announced in January last year that season five would be the show’s last, but went back on those plans several months later by announcing a sixth concluding season.

Current rumours suggest that the episodes being filmed at the moment will cover the 1990s – a difficult period for the Royals, with events including the fire at Windsor Castle in 1992 and Princess Diana’s death in 1997.

Imelda Staunton, who will play Queen Elizabeth II in the fifth season of The Crown. Photo by Yui Mok – WPA Pool/Getty Images

The scenes in Macduff will be filmed almost exactly 60 years after the Queen and Prince Philip visited the town, on August 16 1961.

However, it is unknown what incident will be depicted in the scene(s) filmed next week, nor whether they will involve Staunton or Pryce.

Other stars set to appear in the season include Lesley Manville, who will portray Princess Margaret, Australian actor Elizabeth Debicki, who will play Diana, and Jonny Lee Miller, who was recently announced – amid some bafflement – to be playing Prime Minister John Major.

The Wire actor Dominic West is also reportedly in talks to play Prince Charles.

A spokeswoman for Aberdeenshire Council said: “Our film office works within the Economic Development team to attract inward investment in the region and has been working with The Crown’s production team for the last few months.

“We are delighted to have them back filming with us. Increased film production helps create opportunities for our local communities as well as the positive impact this has on tourism for the region, and we are committed to maximising production opportunities.

“It’s a real pleasure to have The Crown’s crew here and big boost for Banff and Macduff in particular.”

North-east attracts big talent

This is not the first time The Crown has been drawn to the north-east to film.

Landmarks including Slains Castle, Cruden Bay beach and – unsurprisingly – Balmoral were visible to viewers in early seasons.

Other TV royalty (though admittedly in a less literal sense) has also paid a visit to the area recently.

In February, parts of the picturesque Moray Firth fishing village Portsoy were sealed off to allow the cast of BBC gangster drama Peaky Blinders to shoot some scenes.

Taron Egerton on the set of Jon S. Baird’s Tetris film. Pictured by Darrell Benns

Cillian Murphy, who plays Tommy Shelby in the hit show, was even spotted trying out the award-winning local ice cream.

Just a few weeks later, Peterhead-born director Jon S. Baird took over small sections of Aberdeen to film his big-budget movie about the creation of Tetris with Rocketman star Taron Egerton.

Aberdeen University’s zoology building was kitted out with Cyrillic signage as it appeared to be standing in for the headquarters of a Cold War-era Russian computing firm.

 

This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.