A new film about the Arthurian legend has been seen this week being shot in Wiltshire and other parts of the West Country.

A cast of stellar names from stage and screen are taking key roles in The Winter King, a television adaptation of Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Chronicles series.

They include Hugh Grant, Chris Pine, Regé-Jean Page, Michelle Rodriguez,  Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Jason Wong, Daisy Head and child star Chloe Coleman.

A television production crew was spotted filming The Winter King drama near Bradford on Avon earlier this week.

Sources, who declined to be named, confirmed the crew were seen filming in the Iford Valley below the Grade 1-listed Iford Manor Gardens.

They used the Iford Cider premises on the road to Freshford as a film base and were in the area for two nights on Tuesday and Wednesday.

It is understood that horses were involved and some of the actors were seen wearing loincloths and other period costumes,

It is also understood they are working for Cardiff-based Bad Wolf, a British TV production company founded by two former BBC executives Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter.

Bad Wolf Studios is also filming the next series of Doctor Who with Ncuti Gatwa for BBC Studios. 

Based on Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Chronicles, The Winter King is an epic but intimate 10-part returning series being shot in Wales and the West Country in 2022.

The Winter King is set in the 5th century, long before Britain was united, in a land of warring factions and tribes when the world was brutal and lives were often fleeting.

Portraying a revisionist take on the well-loved Arthurian legends, the series follows Arthur Pendragon as he evolves from outcast prodigal son to legendary warrior and leader. 

The series is being produced by Bad Wolf, in association with One Big Picture, with international distribution being handled by Sony Pictures Television.

Bad Wolf is the company behind Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials and A Discovery Of Witches, a British fantasy television series based on the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness.

Kate Brooke (A Discovery Of Witches, Bancroft) and Ed Whitmore (Manhunt, Rillington Place) are adapting Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Chronicles for the series and Otto Bathurst (His Dark Materials, Halo) will be the lead director.

The television adaptation will debut in the UK on ITV’s new streaming platform ITVX. It will then air later on linear.