A CLUSTER of Shaw streets has been the backdrop for a new drama series starring Trainspotting and Full Monty actor Robert Carlyle.
Residents on Buckley Street, Gordon Street, Duckworth Street, Greaves Street and Crossley Street found their area thrust into the spotlight as cast and crew descended to shoot footage for Sky One’s six-part series, COBRA.
It is not thought Carlyle, who plays Prime Minister Robert Sutherland trying to deal with a national emergency, was on set for the filming on Thursday, June 13.
Earlier in the week production staff arrived to begin erecting props in the terraced streets close to the town centre.
A letter outlining the schedule had been sent to residents warning of possible disruption during the three-days.
Unit manager James Goodwin also provided some tantalising information about COBRA set to be aired in November and also starring Victoria Hamilton (The Crown) as the PM’s chief of staff Anna Marshall.
He said: “The show focuses on the fictional government and their emergency COBRA committee, attempting to organise and restore normality.
“With the flare resulting in a massive loss of in infrastructural capabilities, public services have all but stopped, resulting in large rubbish build ups on streets. Communities are needed to come together to try and solve the issues of none existent public services.
“To try and emulate this disarray in towns and cities, we will adding prop bags of rubbish (see photos) and other items onto the streets where we are filming. These will be removed as soon as we finish filming.”
Sky announced its new political drama at the Royal Television Awards earlier this year. Written by Ben Richards (Strike) and produced by New Pictures, COBRA’s cast also includes Richard Dormer (Game of Thrones), David Haig (Killing Eve) and Lucy Cohu (Broadchurch).
“I am really looking forward to stepping into the role of the Prime Minister in a story that feels almost too true to be fiction,” said Robert Carlyle of his part.
“COBRA is a palpably thrilling and witty take on a political drama but with a humanity at the heart of the series.”
Cameron Roach, director of Sky Drama, added: “COBRA gives a fascinating look into the world of politics and power under pressure, brought to life so brilliantly by Ben Richard’s scripts.”
A great production of which i had the pleasure of potraying a Police Officer in some of the scenes when we did filming in Bolton as a Thameside Police Officer its great to see my home town of Shaw is being used in a great National Security drama and featuring a great actor Robert Carlyle looking forward to watching it on TV in November.