Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

The Last Post stars on filming Yemen in South Africa

09/11/2018

--

-- --

Facebook

Twitter

Google

Pinterest

Shot in South Africa with Film Afrika, The Last Post is a six-part BBC One series set against the backdrop of the creation of an independent Yemen: a close-up view of army life set in the heat, glamour and extreme danger of Aden in the swinging sixties.

As The New York Times wrote, The fall of the British Empire and the rise of Arab nationalism have rarely looked as ravishing as they do in The Last Post, a highly scenic evocation of the days of gin and tonics at the club and discreet bed-hopping in the officers' quarters.

-- --

Written by BAFTA winner Peter Moffat (Criminal Justice and its US remake, The Night Of), The Last Post is based on his childhood memories of his father's career as an officer in the Royal Military Police and his mother's struggle between being what the army required her to be and what she felt like being. This was my parents' world and one I have wanted to write about all my career, says Peter.

As The Los Angeles Times wrote, The Last Post stars a who's who cast culled from top-tier British television shows, including Jessie Buckley (Taboo, War & Peace), Jessica Raine (Call The Midwife, Patrick Melrose), Amanda Drew (Broadchurch), Ben Miles (The Crown), Tom Glynn-Carney (Dunkirk), Jeremy Neumark Jones (One Of Us), Stephen Campbell Moore (The Bank Job) and Chris Reilly (Call The Midwife), who was nominated as Best Actor at BAFTA Scotland this year for his role as Sergeant Alex Baxter.

If you don't know much about the history of Aden, neither did many of the cast. As Amanda said on set, I had heard of Aden but was ashamed by how little I knew, although slightly comforted when a lot of other people said the same thing. I've been doing a lot of fascinating reading, one book in particular by Jonathan Walker, called Aden Insurgency. Not only does the situation seem strangely remote, but it also seems like, Oh dear, this is a situation that we keep finding ourselves in' because, you know, we still feel this need to go in to other countries and sort things out for them. While that on the surface might seem like a laudable endeavour, it often causes a lot more problems.

During my research I stumbled upon an internet forum for people who were children in Aden in the sixties, says Jessica. Their words and images offered a snapshot of families living an idyllic life, occasionally shattered by the odd grenade being lobbed over the wall, deliberately targeting children and families. It was hard to get my head around living in that situation. There is something funny and disturbing about trying to maintain British values under those conditions, whilst blithely unaware that they're not welcomed there.

South African audiences will get additional pleasure from trying to match the Middle East settings to their Cape Town locations.

The cast raved about their experience of shooting in South Africa, repeatedly calling it a treat.

It's a real treat to be filming in such a naturally beautiful landscape, said Amanda on set. The climate is extraordinary and the quality of light is like crystal, so bright and invigorating. And from the documentary footage I've seen it mirrors incredibly the environment of Aden. The windy but very hot landscape is stunning but also remote, somewhat unforgiving, and dangerous. It feeds in very naturally to the acting.

Filming in Cape Town while it's winter in England has been a real treat, echoed Jessica. The heat, especially in the desert, was a challenge. But the payoff is that landscape is phenomenal.

Jessica wasn't the only British cast member to struggle with the heat. There was one day when it was 45 degrees and it is astonishingly hard to deal with, says Jeremy. As soon as you drank, the water would just evaporate back out because it was so dry and so hot. My hair is still a couple of shades lighter due to sun bleaching.

Similarly Chris says, that while the heat helped maintain the illusion they were in Aden, If I'd had my way we would have stayed in the barracks set!

But Stephen credits shooting in South Africa with helping to create the camaraderie on set. We got to share a lot of experiences that bound us together, he says. On our days off, we hung out and hiked Table Mountain or went to the beach. It was a lovely job and full of fun.

Being a British military show though, even the fraternising was structured, especially during the week-long boot camp in South Africa for the male cast to prepare. They segregated our accommodation so the actors playing officers were in one place and the actors playing grunts in the other, says Chris. So as much as we're bonded, we're bonded in the proper way. I think that was by design so we know where the boundaries are.

The Last Post has a 95% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The Hollywood Reporter called it, Taut, brisk, moving and gorgeous; Indiewire hailed it as a feast for the eyes both patient and powerful; and The Daily Dot called it an intriguing exploration of history that teaches lessons we still haven't learned a little bit Mad Men a little bit Army Wives most definitely unique.

Facebook

Twitter

Google

Pinterest

-- --
LINK: http://www.screenafrica.com/2018/11/09/film/film-content/the-last-post...
See more stories from screenafrica

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

13/05/2026

New Adobe Premiere Color Grading Mode Accelerated on NVIDIA GPUs

New Adobe Premiere Color Grading Mode Accelerated on NVIDIA GPUs Joel Pennington May 13, 2026 0 Comments New NVIDIA RTX-accelerated features streamlin...

13/05/2026

dB Broadcast Delivers New IP-based Cloudbass Sports OB Tr...

Grass Valley announced that dB Broadcast has delivered new IP-based outside broadcast (OB) trucks for Cloudbass, featuring Grass Valley LDX 100 Series cameras a...

13/05/2026

Ikegami Announces its Broadcast Asia 2026 Innovations

Ikegami will exhibit the latest additions to its wide range of broadcast production cameras, control units, viewfinders and monitors on stand 5D3-1 at Broadcast...

13/05/2026

XRSA and FISE Partner to Deliver Immersive Action Sports...

FISE, working with the founding members of the XR Sports Alliance (XRSA), Accedo, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and HBS, have collaborated to develop an immersive...

13/05/2026

Canon Unveils New EOS R6 V Full-Frame EOS Camera and RF20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ Built-In Power Zoom Lens

Canon Unveils New EOS R6 V Full-Frame EOS Camera and RF20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ Bu...

13/05/2026

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honors Beth Morrison and Moses Pendleton at Commencement Ceremony

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honors Beth Morrison and Moses Pendleton at Comme...

13/05/2026

CBS Boston to Air CCBL Baseball

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/05/2026

Study: Free Streaming Emerges as TV's New Normal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/05/2026

Amagi Announces Major Enhancements To CLOUDPORT

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/05/2026

FCC Releases Updates to TVStudy Software

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/05/2026

Nexstar Names Elizabeth Ryder EVP, General Counsel

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/05/2026

Foundry releases Nuke Stage- simplifying virtual producti...

Creative software developer Foundry today announced the latest developments on Nuke Stage. A purpose-built application for end-to-end virtual production and in-...

13/05/2026

Tradfluencer - The Sharon Shannon Story

A definitive portrait of one of Ireland's most influential musicians New TV documentary airs Monday 18 May on RT One and RT Player at 9.35pm Watch the...

13/05/2026

Hermes Unlocks Self-Improving AI Agents, Powered by NVIDIA RTX PCs and DGX Spark

Agentic AI is changing the way users get work done. Following the success of OpenClaw, the community is embracing new open source agentic frameworks. The latest...

13/05/2026

NVIDIA, Ineffable Intelligence Team Up to Build the Future of Reinforcement Learning Infrastructure

Reinforcement-learning agents - AI systems that learn by trial and error - can c...

12/05/2026

Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026

Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026 If NAB Show 2026 had an underlying theme, it was a quiet, industry-wide pivot from the high-energy sp...

12/05/2026

G&D and CT Square Establish Joint Venture for India and Middle East Distribution

Guntermann and Drunck (G&D), a Panoptec Technologies Group company, and CT Square, led by Chandresh Shah, have announced a joint venture to distribute G&D and V...

12/05/2026

Telemundo Reports Record Advertiser Demand for FIFA World Cup 2026 Coverage

With 30 days until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the tournament in the United States, has announced th...

12/05/2026

NHLs Stanley Pup Returns for Third Year on June 8

The NHL has announced the return of Stanley Pup for its third consecutive year, a 90-minute special featuring adoptable rescue dogs competing on a miniature rin...

12/05/2026

NBCUniversal Outlines Ad Technology and Content Strategy at 2026 Upfront

NBCUniversal presented its 2026 Upfront to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall, detailing upcoming programming across NBC, Peacock, Bravo, and Versant properti...

12/05/2026

FOX Sports Funds Fandom Research Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School

FOX Sports has announced funding for the Fandom and Social Connection Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Publ...

12/05/2026

TNDV and Live Media Support NCAA Final Four Weekend for 13th Consecutive Year

TNDV and Live Media, both divisions of Live Media Group, supported live broadcast coverage around NCAA Final Four weekend in Indianapolis, including the March M...

12/05/2026

European Football Alliance Signs Distribution Agreement with Fubo Sports Network

The European Football Alliance (EFA) has announced a content distribution agreement with Fubo Sports Network, the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel ...

12/05/2026

ESPN, TelevisaUnivision Ink Deal to Produce Additional Spanish-Language Super Bowl LXI Telecast

For the first time, Spanish-speaking fans in the U.S. will have two separate tel...

12/05/2026

CP Communications Manages RF Spectrum for Kentucky Derby Week

CP Communications led a comprehensive spectrum management initiative on behalf of Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week, coordinating RF assets across the ...

12/05/2026

LiveU and DRONERESPONDERS Announce Partnership for Public Safety Drone Video Transmission

LiveU has announced a strategic partnership with DRONERESPONDERS, a 501(c)3 non-...

12/05/2026

BMC TV Selects Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway for Horse Racing Transmissions

Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BMC TV, a specialist in IP transport of broadcast content, has selected the Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway solution...

12/05/2026

NEP Europe to Deliver Broadcast Solutions for Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in Vienna

NEP Europe, part of NEP Group, has announced it will deliver broadcast solutions...

12/05/2026

Grass Valley Expands Collaboration with Ravensbourne University London on Media Production Education

Grass Valley has announced continued collaboration with Ravensbourne University ...

12/05/2026

Stats Perform Launches Opta Pulse AI-Assisted Video Creation Platform

Stats Perform has announced the launch of Opta Pulse, an AI-assisted video creation and distribution platform for leagues, rights holders, and broadcasters. The...

12/05/2026

FOX Sports and Sesame Workshop Announce Collaboration for FIFA World Cup 2026

FOX Sports has announced a collaboration with Sesame Workshop to integrate Sesame Street characters into FOX Sports' FIFA World Cup 2026 programming. Conten...

12/05/2026

Little Show, Giant Heart: NHL in ASL Earns Two Sports Emmy Nominations in 2026

To date, NHL Productions has produced 19 broadcasts with commentary in American Sign Language NHL in ASL (American Sign Language) may be just one show, but the...

12/05/2026

At Its Annual Brandcast, YouTube Aims To Show Why Sports Is No Longer Just the Game

Google's Brian Albert: creators, athletes, highlights, nostalgia, second-scr...

12/05/2026

Your Next Double Feature: Old Joy and Past Lives

A still from Past Lives by Celine Song, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute | p...

12/05/2026

It's Your Party of the Year(s): A Look Back at Your Entire Music History on Spotify

Spotify is where fans and artists come together, turning discovery into somethin...

12/05/2026

Black Lion Audio introduce the Auteur 8DAT

Features patented Marco-MMC clocking technology Black Lion Audio's latest release combines the company's expertise in clocking with their renowned p...

12/05/2026

Reason 14 now available

New Track Panel, sequencer upgrades & more Following their recent public beta release, Reason Studios have announced the full release of Reason 14. With the...

12/05/2026

One month to go! SBS reveals expansive FIFA World Cup 2026 lineup beyond the pitch

One month to go! SBS reveals expansive FIFA World Cup 2026 lineup beyond the pi...

12/05/2026

Rohde & Schwarz presents its advanced solutions for power electronics testing at PCIM Expo 2026

Rohde & Schwarz presents its advanced solutions for power electronics testing at...

12/05/2026

Ad-Hoc News: aconnic AG announces improved fund raising plan to support business and refinance debt

aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, has developed a modified fund raising p...

12/05/2026

CNN Pushes Into Lifestyle Products with CNN Weather' App Launch

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/05/2026

Marshall Electronics Cameras Elevate Elite Equestrian Com...

Tyrell Corporation, specialists in high-end live sports and entertainment broadcasts, was tasked with delivering compelling broadcast coverage of premier equest...

12/05/2026

IBC2026 registration opens as international media industr...

Registration is now open for IBC2026 as the global media, entertainment and technology community prepares to converge on the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September ...

12/05/2026

Ross Video Showcases Unified Production Workflows at Broa...

Ross Video, a global leader in live video production technology, will present its latest innovations and integrated production workflows at BroadcastAsia 2026, ...

12/05/2026

With over 50bn euros in assets under management and recor...

500 selected leaders from around the world across start-ups, corporates, and venture capital. Over 50bn in assets under management among attending investors, a...