The Mill – Series 2 – best behind the scenes photos

Back at the end of April, Darlow Smithson were in their final week of filming the second series of The Mill, and I took it upon myself to loiter around the set taking photo after photo after photo. In the end I had around 300 pictures and one slightly irked producer after I accidentally wandered…

Children of The Mill by David Hanson

To accompany the second series of The Mill, a book has been released which explores the lives of the apprentices at Quarry Bank, from the beginnings of the apprentice system in the 1790s, to its end in 1847. The book is called Children of The Mill, by David Hanson. Back in July we held a…

The Mill Series 2 – interviews with Kerrie Hayes, Andrew Lee Potts and Matthew McNulty

Have you been enjoying The Mill on Channel 4? Who’s your favourite character at the moment? Whilst they were filming here at Quarry Bank, the National Trust managed to grab some one-on-one time with some of the cast and find out what their thoughts were on their characters and on Series 2. Warning – the…

The Mill – Series 2 – behind the scenes – exploring the set

Back in April, myself and other staff members, who helped out with the filming of The Mill, were invited to the studio set in Media City. Darlow Smithson Productions have been kind enough to allow me to share the photos I took of the fantastically detailed sets. I apologise in advance if the photos look…

The Mill Series 2 – William Greg

Sunday night saw the introduction of another member of the Greg family in The Mill; William Greg, played by Andrew Lee Potts. In the first episode we learn that William has taken over the running of Quarry Bank Mill, whilst his elder brother, Robert Hyde Greg, is in Manchester acting as an MP to fight…

The Mill Series 2 Press Pack from Channel 4

Yesterday, Channel 4 released their press pack for Series 2 of The Mill. It’s absolutely jam packed full of information about the second series, as well as loads of information about the fact behind the fiction that we here at Quarry Bank supplied them with, and even the article first featured here on the blog…

The Mill – Series 1 Catch up and a look ahead to Series 2

For those of you living in the UK, you may have spotted a few TV adverts reminding you that you can catch up with Series 1 of The Mill, ahead of Series 2 which is due to air at the end of July. I thought today that I would direct you to a few previous…

The Mill – Series 2 – Behind the Scenes

We’ve been keeping fairly schtum these past few weeks about the fact that Channel 4 and Darlow Smithson Productions are back at Quarry Bank, filming series 2 of ‘The Mill’. It’s once more been a brilliant, hectic, surreal experience having them back , and on the days filming took place in the Mill Yard, all…

The ‘real’ Esther Price

If you’ve been watching The Mill you’ll know that Esther Price’s story is central to the series.  As I’ve been discussing here on the blog, with most historical dramas some parts of the truth are adapted to make the story seem more compelling or to fit in with story lines –  and so I wanted the opportunity…

The fact that inspired the fiction…

For the past couple of posts I’ve been talking about The Mill on Channel 4 and how the archive material here at Quarry Bank was the fact that inspired the series. This week I decided to take a trip to the archive to see Ally, our Collection and Archive Officer, to find out exactly what…

The Mill on Channel 4 – Series 1

I have some seriously exciting news for you all this week! Back in February Channel 4 filmed their first ever factually inspired historical drama series at Quarry Bank, in conjunction with Darlow Smithson Productions. After five months of us staff and volunteers itching with impatience, the show is airing on Sunday 28th July at 8pm! The…