Channel 4 granted unique access to the build of the Duchess of Northumberland’s £15m “magical village” at Alnwick

25 June 2021

Channel 4 has commissioned a new six-part series The Duchess (w/t) from MGM Television following life at home with the Duchess of Northumberland. With unrivalled access, the series will follow the Duchess as she embarks on a grand project to create a one-of-a-kind whimsical wonderland close to The Alnwick Garden.

Grade I listed Alnwick Castle, known as “the Windsor of the North”, is England’s second largest inhabited castle and home to The Duke and Duchess of Northumberland and their family. The castle has become an iconic filming location, appearing in productions from the Harry Potter films to Downton Abbey and the Duke and Duchess have welcomed numerous dignitaries from high society to their home and gardens, including Her Majesty the Queen and HRH Prince Charles.

The Castle, now a world-famous tourism site, sits alongside The Alnwick Garden, a multi award-winning attraction in its own right, with a unique ‘Poison Garden’ and the world’s largest Treehouse Restaurant. Together, they make up two of the North East’s most popular visitor attractions. The Duchess has magnificent plans to develop a £15m magical village of make believe, named Lilidorei, on grounds close to The Alnwick Garden, complete with fairy grottos, goblin lairs and lots of surprises. The majority of Lilidorei staff will be ex-service men and women and the attraction will continue to build on The Alnwick Garden’s ethos of working closely with the tight knit local community. This new six-part series will grant exclusive access to the remarkable transformation and castle life with The Duchess.

The Duchess of Northumberland comments: “I didn’t think that building anything after The Alnwick Garden could be as challenging but Lilidorei is proving much more complex, trying to explain to a construction team how a hobgoblin or a fairy might behave is proving almost impossible. The aim of Lilidorei is to encourage children to leave their phones in their pockets and to use their imagination - to achieve this the visitor has to enter into a totally believable magical world.

I am thrilled at the thought of a series that will shine a light on the many attributes that Alnwick and Northumberland have; a wealth of history, incredible castles, beautiful coastline and beaches and vast expanses of wild moorland.”

The Duchess (w/t) is a 6 x 60 series commissioned by Jo Street, Head of Daytime & Features and Clemency Green, Commissioning Editor, Daytime & Features. The series will be produced by MGM Television with executive producers Dom Bird and Vicky Hamburger.

Clemency Green, Commissioning Editor, Daytime & Features, Channel 4 comments: “Over the years, Channel 4 has captured so many spectacular renovations and unique buildings that stay in our viewers’ memories. This series promises to follow suit with one the most striking builds we’ve ever witnessed – an entire fairy kingdom in the North East. We’re delighted to be welcomed by the Duchess into both her home and her passion project, and we look forward to seeing the fruits of her and her team’s work in this joyful new series.”

Dom Bird, SVP of International Unscripted Television at MGM Television, comments: “We are delighted to be making this compelling new series for Channel 4. With rare access to Her Grace alongside the incredibly ambitious project she is about to undertake, it promises to be a hugely eventful enterprise as the Duchess of Northumberland juggles formal and personal commitments with her biggest ever challenge.”

 

ENDS

 

About METRO GOLDWYN MAYER 

Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) is a leading entertainment company focused on the production and global distribution of film and television content across all platforms. The company owns one of the world’s deepest libraries of premium film and television content as well as the premium pay television network EPIX, which is available throughout the U.S. via cable, satellite, telco and digital distributors. In addition, MGM has investments in numerous other television channels, digital platforms and interactive ventures and is producing premium short- form content for distribution. For more information, visit www.mgm.com.