Northern Ireland is the current go-to filming location for international production companies as new BBC drama ‘The Life and Adventures of Nick Nickleby’ is due to begin filming there in June.
The five-part adaptation of Charles Dickens’ ‘The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby’ is a production of London-based Kindle Entertainment, with Sue Breen at the helm. As of yet, there is no director attached to the project nor confirmation on exactly where in the north the Joy Wilkinson (Doctors) penned drama will be filmed.
Northern Ireland previously played host to both seasons of HBO’s fantasy adventure ‘Game of Thrones’, while feature film ‘Good Vibrations’ filmed on location in Belfast last year, and BBC Two’s ‘The Fall’ began filming in Belfast last month.
Northern Ireland Screen Fund is funding the latest BBC project, with support from Invest NI and the European Regional Development Fund. BBC One will broadcast the series in Autumn of this year.
The Dickens classic depicts the life of poverty-stricken Nicholas Nickleby, whose exploration of the corruption inside the walls of elite boarding schools leads him to discover how the pursuit of wealth can impact on the vulnerable of society.
Kindle’s adaptation will take a modern approach to the tale, with the lead character referred to as ‘Nick’, and the focus of the story played out in a nursing home instead of a boarding school.
Executive producer for Kindle Entertainment Melanie Stokes says: “We are thrilled to be making this contemporary twist on Dickens' classic tale to mark his bicentennial for the daytime audience. Joy Wilkinson has found an urgent theme - every bit as pressingly important as Dickens' original.”
IFTN will post updates on the new BBC drama ‘The Adventures of Nick Nickleby’ as they come in.
