The beautiful Forest of Dean is to provide the backdrop for a new Channel Four comedy.
Filming has already started for The Change. It’s the tale of middle-aged married mother-of-two Linda, who is – as the name of the show suggests – having an existential crisis. In a bid to ‘find herself’ again, she returns to the Forest of Dean, where she spent her childhood years. Her mode of transport is her old Triumph motorbike which she dusts down in the garage.
As the show continues, viewers discover that it is indeed amongst the area’s trees, open spaces and villages that Linda finds a new purpose in her life. This includes opposing plans for a new development in the forest that she loves so much.
Menopausal meander for the meaning of life
The Forest of Dean is also where Linda meets a whole host of eccentric characters, such as artists, eel fisherwomen, misfits, musicians and a bigot. Meanwhile, the 50-year-old also has to contend with various symptoms of the menopause, especially memory loss, which convinces her she has early-onset dementia.
Multi-award-winning stand-up comedian Bridget Christie has written the six-part series. Gloucester-born Bridget also plays the lead role of Linda. Her on-screen husband of 25 years is fellow stand-up comedian Omid Djalili. It also contains other well-known names, such as Liza Tarbuck (who plays Linda’s bossy big sister),
The Fast Show’s Paul Whitehouse is Tony, a pub regular, born and bred in the Forest of Dean, whose points of view are still very much embedded in the past. Other big names in the show include Jerome Flynn. He plays the Pig Man – an off-grid and self-sufficient former banker who lives a frugal life, alone except for a wild boar for companionship. Tanya Moodie, who starred in Motherland, is Joy, the local radio DJ.
“Shirley Valentine meets Deliverance. With pigs”
Channel 4 – who commissioned the show from production company Expectation – says it is like “Shirley Valentine meets Deliverance. With pigs”.
Fiona McDermott, head of comedy for the station:
@Channel 4 [This is] “a show that so brilliantly tackles big themes – feminism, health, identity, class and the natural world – but wraps them up with Bridget’s signature charm, curiosity and comic expertise. It’s a timely show from a comic at the height of her powers.”
Other onscreen Forest of Dean appearances
The Forest of Dean and Wye Valley has been the backdrop to many TV shows and films in recent years. This includes Merlin (much of which was filmed at Puzzlewood) and Dr Who. But Harry Potter and Star Wars production crews have also trampled these woods. The same woods, incidentally, are said to have inspired JR Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books.
More recently, the Wye Valley has been the location for the popular Netflix comedy Sex Education. The Scandinavian-inspired red and white house the main character lives in can be found in the Forest of Dean. It also features the Old Railway Bridge at Tintern.
