The Holiday will transport viewers to the sunnier climates of the Mediterranean when it starts airing on our screens this week. The page-turner from T.M Logan has been transformed into a TV series.
The 2019 novel, The Holiday, became a huge success and was also featured in the Richard and Judy Book Club and now you'll get to see the story be brought to life in this brand-new four-part series filmed in an idyllic holiday location.
The cast line-up includes Jill Halfpenny, who first made her rise to fame in Byker Grove alongside TV presenting duo Ant and Dec in 1989. You can find out who will star in the drama here.
Read more: When does The Holiday start? Release date, cast and location for new Channel 5 thriller
Where did filming for the thriller take place? Here's everything you need to know:
Where was The Holiday on Channel 5 filmed?
Filming for the Channel 5 thriller took place in April 2021 on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean. The island is South of the Italian island of Sicily.
Cast and crew spent five weeks filming for the series. At the time, Malta was in the middle of a lockdown and cast and crew had to undergo 14 days of isolation before starting production for the drama.
Speaking of filming during the pandemic, Jill Halfpenny said the team behind the series were working six-days a week but they were pleased to be back working.
"Malta was in a pretty strict lockdown when we were there, so we were in complete isolation for 14 days, doing fittings and read throughs on Zoom," Jill said of the experience:
"And then we were working six day weeks, so we had to just go to set, film, and go back to our hotel rooms. There was a beach right outside the hotel, but police were patrolling it, making sure people wore masks, so it wasn’t very relaxing!
"We would much rather be working in those conditions than not working at all though, so we were all still really pleased to be out there. It was a shame not to be able to go to a nice local restaurant though, we knew the hotel menu off by heart by the end and couldn’t face another curry!"
The 46-year-old actress revealed how they also weren't far away from the cast and crew who were filming Channel 5's The Madame Blanc Mysteries - which aired in October 2021. The series starred Sally Lindsey and Sue Holderness.
"Sally Lindsay and the Madame Blanc crew were on Gozo, the island next to Malta, at a similar time, so we were texting each other to see how things were going," said Jill.
And despite the series bringing a bit of sunshine to our winter months, Jill revealed that it was actually cold on the island when they were filming.
"It was April when we were filming and I think you can tell in some of the shots that it was incredibly windy," she explained: "So it wasn't anywhere near as warm as it might look - in fact, there was one day filming that was the coldest day I've ever had on set in my life.
"We were all in summer outfits having this meal on the side of a rock, and the wind was coming in from the sea. I thought I was going to cry because I was so cold, but luckily Kate is always really tense so it didn’t show too much!"
The Holiday is on Channel 5 from Tuesday, March 1 to Friday, March 4 at 9pm. You can also stream on My5.
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