Monmouth has once more become a destination town for film crews as an adaptation of Andrew Lane's Young Sherlock Holmes book series is being made into an upcoming streaming television series set to release on Prime Video.
Young Sherlock, directed by Guy Ritchie, stars Hero Feines Tiffin, nephew to Hollywood actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes, who himself stars as Sherlock's adventurous father, and heart-throb Colin Firth.
Filming took place in the centre of old Monmouth itself with the Punch House, Beaufort Arms Square - where Doctor Who was filmed a decade ago- the Shire Hall and the Oxford Coffee Shop were used for scenes in the upcoming series.
Some businesses had their shopfronts temporarily replaced to suit the period setting whilst extras grabbing some refreshment in Agincourt Square evoked a feeling of yesteryear.
Hero Tiffin is a 19-year-old Sherlock Holmes at Oxford University but not yet the master detective he grows up to be. But a murder at Oxford puts his freedom at risk, and he sets out to solve his first murder-mystery that leads him to a worldwide conspiracy.
The film crew used the Glendower Street car park for storing film props and vehicles, including two four-wheeled carts, unfortunately the partial closure coincided with the visit of Prince Edward at the Haberdashers’ School on Tuesday and left many motorists driving around looking for alternative parking spots.
Residents took to social media with mostly positive views of the disruption to normal life.
Margaret Cowen said that any spaces in the car park taken up by the film crew would have paid for it adding “it will bring money into the area as most production use local sources
“Depending on the production it will also bring tourists into the area. Sex education’ has done this in spades,” she added
Andy Pilkington, who let us use his picture, said that he and his wife “were grabbing a few bits of shopping so went to have a look. When we arrived the crew and security were very happy for us to walk through the alley to take a look, which had been transformed into a fairly convincing Victorian pub and market. Lovely to have our town used like this.
“Having worked in film production myself, I know how challenging it can be to set up around people who need access, but they did so with a smile.”