NEW BRITISH TV SERIES SHOT ENTIRELY ON LOCATION IN THE SEYCHELLES
(Posted 27th September 2017)
The wonderful backdrop and scenery of Seychelles have convinced producers of an upcoming UK television series that the popular holiday destination is also a perfect filming location.
Kerry Waddel, the producer of High and Dry – a new comedy series filmed entirely on location in the Seychelles – said they are looking forward to returning to the island nation to film a second series of the sitcom.
Starring popular British comedian Marc Wootton, the series being produced by a UK-based company, Baby Cow Productions, unfolds with passengers surviving a plane crash on a deserted island.
Shooting of scenes for the six half-hour episodes were done at some of the well-known beaches on the Seychelles main island, Mahé, namely Anse du Riz, and Anse-Major, which is where the key scenes were filmed. The filming was done in July and August this year.
Ms. Waddel said: ‘We were looking for a location ‘castaway’ paradise and we found it in the Seychelles. Our requirements were unspoilt white sandy beaches, clear blue sea and jungle and we discovered them all to perfection. Our island had easy access to the airport and small enough to move around easily with fabulous accommodation at a reasonable rate‘.
The Seychelles Tourism Board that pitched the idea to the UK production company to choose Seychelles for once, provided full support for the filming on location along with other local authorities.
Ms. Waddel then added: ‘STB helped us with the permissions to film, location finding and keeping location costs to a minimum. The people were kind, friendly, trustworthy and helpful. All contributed to a successful shoot‘.
While the outcome is positive, the filming did have its share of challenges, but the Baby Cow production team and their actors were able to rise to the occasion and enjoy the perks of filming on a beach destination surrounded by beautiful wildlife.
‘The main challenge was the location we chose as it was so remote. There was no access by road so we had to land everything and everyone by boat. This was hindered slightly by some tricky sea swells to negotiate but the crew rose to the occasion and jumped in the water to move the equipment around. We also chose a cave location one day that was a good one hour trek to walk to. The crew were thrilled at seeing tortoise, fruit bats and unusual wildlife and to experience the tropical life on a daily basis‘ Ms. Waddel then concluded.
High and Dry will air on E4 — a digital entertainment channel owned by Channel 4 in the UK, and while the exact date is yet to be announced, it is expected that the airing will happen early 2018.
Although it won’t be directly mentioning Seychelles, the fact that the beautiful beaches, clear turquoise waters and lush tropical vegetation will be featured this will help to push Seychelles into the UK limelight, which is a market that has been seeing remarkable increase in visitor arrivals to Seychelles over the last two years.
The Chief Executive of the Seychelles Tourism Board, Sherin Francis said: ‘It has been an absolute pleasure working with the Baby Cow Productions team. We are so happy that Seychelles was the chosen location and we hope that this opens up the destination to other similar productions‘.
STB also sought the services of a PR company to feature a “Behind the Scenes” documentary about the filming to help create a forum for viewers to engage and discuss the series and also the location when the series starts airing. A page on IMDb, a popular source for movie, TV and celebrity content, is also expected to be set up for the High and Dry series.
Baby Cow productions is an award-winning production house in the UK, established in 1999. Aside of High and Dry, the company has produced some much-loved comedy series including Hunderby, Hebburn, The Trip, Gavin & Stacey to name but a few.
