BBC true-crime drama The Sixth Commandment filmed in Bristol
New BBC true-crime drama The Sixth Commandment filmed on location in Bristol, doubling the city for real-life story setting Buckinghamshire.
The four-part series is based on the events of the early 2010s, when a gentle and inspirational teacher, Peter Farquhar (played by Timothy Spall) was manipulated by charismatic student Ben Field (Éanna Hardwicke), who exploited the older man’s loneliness, going on to drug him, force him to drink alcohol and eventually kill him, thus pocketing an inheritance.
Field went on to gaslight Farquhar’s deeply religious neighbour in the village of Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire, Ann Moore-Martin (Anne Reid), which finally unlocked chilling revelations.
Field subsequently admitted to defrauding the pair, and was sentenced to 36 years for the murder and other offences. The drama was made in full cooperation with members of Peter Farquhar and Ann Moore-Martin’s families.
Bristol Film Office supported the shoot, which filmed for nearly three months in and around the city last summer, at locations including Blaise Estate, Flax Bourton Mortuary, South Bristol Crematorium, Circomedia on Portland Square – which features as one of the churches – and street scenes in Westbury on Trym.
Filming also took place in and around Bath, Clevedon and Keynsham.
Saul Dibb directs the drama, which is produced by Frances du Pille. The executive producers are Derek Wax for Wild Mercury, Phelps, Dibb, Lucy Richer and Brian Woods.
Wax said of the drama: “I also found it gripping that this took place in a small English village full of Christian values where people go to church every week and listen to sermons preaching morality, when in fact, what’s going on is deeply sinister and malevolent. That idea of danger in plain sight is what’s both compelling and terrifying about this story.”
Photos via BBC.
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