CAMERA crews descended on Bridgwater last week after deciding the canal site was perfect for a new BBC2 period drama about Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.

A request came through to Sedgemoor District Council that “a high level TV drama was seeking a location consisting of a passage of water with high walls made of brick or stone ...”

 A council officer thought of the Albert Street canal cutting and sent through an image of the location and, within a fortnight, it was full steam ahead with plans to de-camp to Bridgwater.

The filming of a scene, to be featured in the BBCs adaptation of the Hilary Mantel novel Wolf Hall, went ahead last Monday between 4pm and 8pm.

It shows the journey of Anne Boleyn from the Thames into Traitors Gate at the Tower of London being re-enacted along the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal just off Bridgwater town centre. 

Mike Slade, a spokesman for the West Country branch of the Inland Waterways Association, said he was pleased that the filming was going to make the canal attractive for visitors as well as other people who might want to use it for film and TV shows.