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# From Slow Horses to Hollywood: Is Ipswich ready for its close-up?
- URL: https://www.ipswich.co.uk/from-slow-horses-to-hollywood-is-ipswich-ready-for-its-close-up/
- Published: 2026-10-15T15:43:41.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-15T15:43:41.000Z
- Description: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden and a spectacular car chase have put Suffolk back on our TV screens. But with a new international film festival coming to Ipswich, a growing creative industry and extraordinary locations hiding in plain sight, could Ipswich become a bigger player in the world of film and TV?
- Author: Jon Moran
- Tags: Opinion

If you were watching *Slow Horses* on Wednesday evening, you might have experienced that rather satisfying moment when something on the television suddenly looks familiar.

Hang on. Isn't that the Orwell Bridge?

Yes, it is. And a little later, there's RAF Bentwaters, where Jack Lowden is racing around the former American airbase in a high-speed car chase involving explosions, fighting and considerably more excitement than the average journey along the A14.

It's all part of the sixth series of Apple TV's enormously successful spy thriller, starring Gary Oldman as the gloriously unpleasant Jackson Lamb, alongside Kristin Scott Thomas, Hugo Weaving and Lowden.

Filmed in Suffolk early last year, the episode broadcast on October 14 finally revealed some of the locations that producers had been keeping under wraps.

And there, in glorious high definition, was our corner of England playing host to one of television's most acclaimed dramas.

But it raises an interesting question.

Why shouldn't Ipswich and the surrounding area be appearing on our screens much more often?

## Hollywood comes to Suffolk

First, let's consider Bentwaters.

For decades, this enormous former military installation near Woodbridge was one of the most strategically important American airbases in Britain.

Now it has a rather different role.

Its enormous runways, aircraft hangars, military buildings and Cold War bunkers make it a remarkable filming location.

The site has previously hosted productions including *Fast & Furious 6* and *Detectorists*, while Ryan Gosling's science-fiction blockbuster *Project Hail Mary* has also made use of its facilities.

It's not difficult to understand why.

If you're making a film requiring an abandoned military installation, a secret government facility or somewhere to drive cars very quickly without alarming the neighbours, Bentwaters is pretty much perfect.

And there's a wonderful contrast between the big-budget productions and the smaller filmmakers who are also discovering the site.

On October 22, Woodbridge's Riverside cinema will screen *The Iris Protocol*, an independent science-fiction short filmed in the former nuclear weapons storage bunkers.

Its makers managed to produce the film for around £4,000.

So, at one end of the scale, Hollywood stars and enormous production budgets. At the other, young filmmakers with determination, imagination and a very modest bank balance.

Both finding what they need in Suffolk.

## But what about Ipswich itself?

This is where things get particularly interesting.

Think about the town through the eyes of a film director rather than somebody looking for a parking space.

Start at the Waterfront.

We have one of Britain's most historically significant enclosed docks, with its extraordinary collection of old warehouses, converted industrial buildings, boats, quaysides and modern architecture.

It could be Liverpool, Bristol, London or almost any historic European port with a little clever camera work.

Walk towards the town centre and the possibilities multiply.

The narrow streets around St Nicholas and St Peter's could provide the setting for a Victorian detective drama.

Christchurch Mansion and its magnificent park could easily accommodate a costume production.

The imposing buildings around the town centre offer an assortment of Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian architecture, while the industrial landscapes beyond the Waterfront could be transformed into almost anything.

And then there's the Orwell Bridge.

Whatever one's opinion of the traffic arrangements, it's a spectacular structure. Seen from the right angle, rising above the river and surrounding countryside, it has an almost cinematic quality.

The makers of *Slow Horses* clearly thought so.

Ipswich has another considerable advantage.

It isn't enormous.

A production company could film a historic street, an industrial waterfront, a leafy park and a modern urban scene without travelling very far.

For filmmakers, where time is money and moving an entire production crew can be an expensive exercise, that matters.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/29/1e/291e4b7f-e551-4458-b546-61963954b22f/content/images/2026/10/img-2408.jpeg)

Ipswich Waterfront (Photo: Oliver Rouane-Williams/Ipswich.co.uk)

## We're already making things here

It's tempting to imagine film production as something that happens elsewhere, involving mysterious people wearing headsets and carrying complicated equipment.

But Ipswich already has the beginnings of a serious creative infrastructure.

Screen Suffolk, the county's official film office, has helped more than 650 productions and estimates that the work it has supported has generated over £20 million in economic impact.

There are now more than 640 registered filming locations across Suffolk.

That is not an insignificant achievement.

And it's not just about attractive scenery.

Screen Suffolk maintains connections with local crews, production companies, equipment suppliers and other businesses that can help visiting filmmakers.

Ipswich-based organisations are part of that network.

Eastern Angles, for example, offers rehearsal and filming facilities, costumes, props and local expertise, while the town has its own video production companies and creative professionals.

Then there's Brighten The Corners.

Best known for its contribution to Ipswich's music scene, the organisation has plans for new creative facilities at The Baths, including recording and podcasting studios and an extended-reality studio.

That last one is particularly interesting.

Extended reality, or XR, allows filmmakers and other creators to combine physical sets with digital environments, opening up possibilities that once required extremely expensive specialist facilities.

It's the sort of technology that could help a new generation of local filmmakers create ambitious work without necessarily leaving Suffolk.

## A film festival of our own

And here's another development that deserves rather more attention than it has perhaps received.

Ipswich is about to get its own international film festival.

The inaugural Ipswich International Film Festival runs from October 31 to November 14, bringing an eclectic collection of films, special screenings, filmmakers and events to the town.

Its theme, *Misfits + Outsiders*, is refreshingly different from the usual red-carpet approach.

The programme includes international cinema, cult classics, rediscovered films and conversations with people who actually make the things we watch.

Among the announced attractions are a 35mm screening of Quentin Tarantino's *Inglourious Basterds* and a celebration of the work of filmmaker John Waters.

It's an ambitious undertaking, and exactly the sort of cultural initiative that a town of Ipswich's size should be encouraging.

We already have King Street Cinema, with its long history of independent and international film, and the wider arts community continues to produce some fascinating work.

The arrival of an international festival provides an opportunity to connect the people who love watching films with those who might one day be making them.

And perhaps that's the important distinction.

There's a difference between being a town where people watch films and a town where films are made.

Ipswich has the potential to be both.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/29/1e/291e4b7f-e551-4458-b546-61963954b22f/content/images/2026/10/the-walk-in-ipswich--1--1.jpeg)

The Walk in Ipswich (Photo: Oliver Rouane-Williams/Ipswich.co.uk)

## The money behind the magic

Of course, the economic argument is worth examining.

When a major television production arrives in an area, it doesn't simply bring actors and cameras.

There are hotels to book, people to feed, vehicles to hire, equipment to transport and countless practical arrangements to organise.

A production might employ local electricians, carpenters, drivers, security staff, caterers and technicians.

Then there are the opportunities for extras, aspiring actors, production assistants and young people hoping to find their way into an industry that can otherwise feel frustratingly remote.

Some of this work is temporary, certainly.

But build a reputation as a reliable, welcoming place to film and the opportunities can become more regular.

And there's another benefit.

Tourism.

Think of the extraordinary attention that television dramas have brought to places such as Cornwall and Yorkshire.

Viewers develop an affection for locations they've seen on screen, sometimes without initially realising where they are.

Suffolk already attracts visitors for its coast, countryside and history.

Imagine if Ipswich itself began developing a recognisable identity as a filming destination.

That could be a rather valuable addition to the town's visitor economy.

## We have the locations. Do we have the ambition?

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the *Slow Horses* story isn't that a major television programme came to Suffolk.

It's that we still seem slightly surprised when it happens.

We shouldn't be.

Our town has extraordinary architecture, an important maritime history, a distinctive landscape and a growing community of creative people.

Within a short drive are medieval villages, stately homes, forests, airfields, beaches and some of the most atmospheric coastline in Britain.

London is close enough to make travelling practical, but we're far enough away to offer something different.

The real opportunity is not simply persuading another production company to spend a few days filming here.

It's building the skills, facilities and reputation that encourage filmmakers to return, and giving young people in Ipswich the chance to become part of that industry.

Imagine a television drama set and filmed predominantly in Ipswich, written by local talent, employing local crews and introducing our town to an international audience.

There's no obvious reason why that couldn't happen.

And with the town's new film festival arriving in a matter of weeks, perhaps this is a good moment to start taking that ambition seriously.

## And finally...

There's one particularly pleasing irony in all of this.

For years, Ipswich has sometimes seemed determined to convince itself that the most interesting things happen somewhere else.

Yet here we are, watching one of the world's biggest streaming services use our bridge, our landscape and our neighbouring airbase as the backdrop to an internationally acclaimed drama.

Hollywood, it seems, has noticed something that we occasionally overlook.

We live somewhere rather interesting.

And next time you're watching a television thriller and recognise a familiar building in the background, don't be too surprised.

It might just be Ipswich.

Although if Gary Oldman does turn up looking for Slough House, somebody should probably explain that Endeavour House is a completely different organisation.