Filming has started on a new series of ITV costume drama Sanditon, with several scenes set to be filmed at Brean over the coming months.
Sanditon was cancelled by ITV back in 2019 but an exhaustive fan campaign to save the show has secured another two seasons, which will be co-produced by BritBox UK and PBS Masterpiece.
“Fans who are craving romance and escape will find them in abundance in the new season of Sanditon, with its intriguing characters and captivating storylines,” says executive producer Susanne Simpson.
“Our partners at Red Planet Pictures have done a brilliant job capturing the magic that won viewers’ hearts in season one.”
Many Sanditon scenes were filmed at Brean and Brean Down for the first series, providing international publicity for the village and Burnham-On-Sea area. More scenes of the Jane Austen drama are planned to be filmed there later this year.
The story will pick up nine months after the events of the first series, with Sanditon growing in popularity, but the secrets of the dysfunctional Denham family continue to be a threat to its future.
The producers of season two have added six new cast members including Merlin‘s Alexander Vlahos and War & Peace star Ben Lloyd-Hughes.
Tom Weston-Jones (Grace) also joins the cast as Colonel Francis Lennox, who will be vying for Charlotte’s affections, facing competition from Lloyd-Hughes as a mysterious new resident with a complex family history.
Vlahos will play flamboyant artist Charles Lockhart, who arrives to paint portraits of Sanditon‘s wealthy elites, with Normal People star Frank Blake also joining the team as “courageous” Captain Declan Fraser.
Another key figure in the season two will be Alison Heywood, the younger sister to Charlotte, played by Outlander‘s Rosie Graham, who quickly becomes acquainted with the charming Captain William Carter, played by relative newcomer Maxim Ays.
Most of the original cast are expected to return alongside these additions, including Rose Williams, Crystal Clarke, Kris Marshall, Anne Reid, Jack Fox and Kevin Eldon, although Theo James decided not to reprise the role of love interest Sidney Parker.
