Independent Exclusive
A ruthless new police woman has moved into a Saddleworth village with potential explosive consequences…
But by the time Greenfield residents get to meet DCI Elizabeth Bancroft she will already be out of their lives!
‘Bancroft’ is a new four part police drama series scheduled for release at the end of the year on ITV Encore.
And it’s the second time in a month the village has been chosen as a set location.
In our May paper, we revealed how cameras rolled into Butterworth Way, off Manchester Road, to shoot scenes for ‘Living The Dream’.
This time Lower Frenches Drive, off Chew Valley Road, was in the spotlight as the quiet cul-de-sac was turned into a major television set for 10 days.
Bancroft’s main character is played by Sarah Parish (of Broadchurch and Cutting It fame) with supporting roles from Faye Marsay (Game of Thrones/Black Mirror), Art Malik (Cold Feet/Indian Summers), Linus Roache (Vikings/Law & Order) and Adam Long (Happy Valley/Home Fires).
One residential property was selected for the full production treatment with scenes for all four shows shot during the cast and crew’s stay in Greenfield.
The driveway of another house was used to build a set to replicate an interior shot of the main location while up to 50 production crew, technicians and their mountain of equipment became familiar sights to curious locals.
Cast members are believed to have stayed in Manchester and driven into the village when their characters were involved in the script.
Further vehicles and production equipment, including make-up facilities and canteen, were parked on site at Robert Fletcher’s Paper Mill.
Greenfield was one of four North West locations along with Bolton, Bury and Wigan used during nine weeks of filming that finishes at the end of May. Additional filming took place in Shrewsbury.
Bancroft is described as a “dark and compelling four-part thriller with a tortured female detective at its heart.”
She is running an operation to bring down the pernicious and vicious Kamara gang, adopting dubious methods to get results.
However, when DS Katherine Stevens (played by Faye Marsay) is assigned to a particular cold case, she unwittingly disturbs the ghosts of the past and what she unearths shakes Bancroft to the core.
Linus Roache plays Tim Frazer who was widowed when his wife, Laura, was brutally murdered in their home 27 years previously, an unsolved crime Bancroft seems to know more about than she is letting on.
‘Bancroft’ is produced by Phil Collinson and is the first commission from the ITVS drama label, Tall Story Pictures.
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