British movie-and-TV-making legend Shane Meadows has finished filming his first feature film in well over a decade.
Chork is Meadows’s next movie, and it has just completed production, having been shot across the UK.
The film is co-written by a figure who has arguably become an even hotter property than Meadows in recent years, Jack Thorne. He wrote Adolescence, a Netflix series that caused a massive splash earlier this year, alongside the Enola Holmes films and the TV adaptation of the His Dark Materials books.
Chork is a road trip movie that will take us on a tour of the country.
“Our story follows two beyond bright, funny as heck and mischievously ingenious young people on a ‘runaway’ road trip the length of this glorious isle. Safe to say, I’m beyond excited about what we’ve captured on their journey,” says Meadows.
“To be returning to film after 17 years, writing alongside ‘megadude’ Jack Thorne again, and working with so many gifted collaborators, has been an absolute privilege.”
Meadows and Thorne previously worked together on the This is England series. And while by our count The Stone Roses: Made of Stone and Le Dank & Scor-zay-zee are actually “Shane Meadows film” projects released more recently than 17 years ago, we’re mostly just glad to hear he’s back making films.
The two lead characters in Chork are aged just 15 and 11, a pair of girls called Kit and Ani. They run away from their foster home, and travel along the British coast while the police search for them.
We don’t know who will play these leads just yet, but we do know Skegness is one of the major locations in the film. Chork sees the two girls travel from Margate to Edinburgh, with Skegness their first proper pit stop.
“When I got the opportunity to do a road movie, this was the first point of the map I wanted to come back [to] — and spend a big part of the filming process here. I wanted to write a visual love letter to my favourite holiday resort,” Meadows told Skegness artist John Byford back in May, while shooting in the town.
“If we can bring it back here, get a cinema or screening, and have a premiere, that’d be my proudest moment.”
Chork is due in cinemas in 2026, and is partly funded by both BBC Films and the BFI.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
