A Newcastle University lecturer is directing an upcoming star studded film IN THE TOON

A host of familiar faces have been filming in locations around Newcastle for an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s 1919 comedic novel Night and Day.

The film is directed by BAFTA nominated Dr. Tina Gharavi who is a full-time screenwriting and film lecturer at Newcastle University. The cast features British icons like Jack Whitehall, Lily Allen, Jennifer Saunders, Timothy Spall, and Sally Phillips as well as US actress Haley Bennett.

Filming in Newcastle has taken place at the Lit and Phil and Neville Hall on Westgate Road. Other locations in the Northeast include Beamish and the Ryhope Engines Museum in Sunderland.

The plot of the “unromantic” comedy centres on the lives and romances of two women in the early 20th century.

Haley Bennett plays Katharine Hilbery, an astronomer more focused on science than romance. Lily Allen stars as Mary Datchet, a suffragette.

Dr. Tina Gharavi pushed for the film to be shot in the Northeast, as a resident of Tyneside for the past 30 years. In a statement about filming at the Ryhope Engines Museum she said:

“This happens to be my favourite location. I was looking for a universe that was believable. Not just a set or a room or a location where you feel it has been fabricated.

“There was a moment, I was like ‘this has got to be in the movie’. And they were like ‘but how does this fit into the story?’ and I was like ‘we will make it work’.

“I fought for this. I said, ‘if this isn’t a location we use, I am not sure I am the director for you really’.”

While the locations are spot on, it’s the Geordies who have stolen the show. Jennifer Saunders, known for her role in Absolutely Fabulous, said:

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“Honestly I think everything should be made up here. The countryside is perfect, there is so much that is unique about here. Newcastle has got the most extraordinary architecture.

“And the people are just so lovely, and helpful and charming and different.”

This film was Haley Bennett’s first visit to the Toon, and it sounds like she could be a future Jesmond resident. She said:

“There was this myth that it was really grim here and it is not grim at all. It is full of life, everyone is full of life and colour. And honestly I think I could live here.”

Ah yes, the blue, white and yellow of Greggs. It looks like we might be seeing more films shot in the Northeast in the future.

Comedian Jack Whitehall’s character sports a moustache, which, in true Geordie spirit, he based on Newcastle United’s Philippe Albert. He said:

“I thought I looked very debonair to be honest, but my father told me I looked like Ned Flanders from The Simpsons. Not a particularly good review but I think it is a strong look.”

Filming wrapped in December 2024 and the release date is still to be confirmed.