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BILLINGTON WOOD

Black comedy - Development 2013

Reluctantly heading for rural Dorset to bury his estranged father, Archie, a modern disaffected British everyman, is dragged kicking and screaming into a sordid labyrinth of suspicion, larceny, haute cuisine, murder and ultimately…taxidermy.

- Year of production
- 2013
- Genres
- Black comedy
- Countries
- UNITED KINGDOM
- Languages
- ENGLISH
- Budget
- 5 - 10 M$
- Duration
- 100 mn
- Writer(s)
- Ed PALMER, Simon BUSCHENFELD
- Producer(s)
- Tom GEORGE (Happy Hour Productions), Gareth OWEN (Happy Hour Productions)
- Synopsis
- During a routine day at the office Archie Ember is given the distressing news that his estranged father has passed away on a flight back from Düsseldorf.
  Begrudgingly Ember heads for the sleepy picture-postcard Dorset coastal town of Billington, where he agrees to take care of the funeral arrangements himself. During the solemnities Aldridge is introduced to some very strange people: a tattooed welsh teddy boy with a gift from his father, a shy and intriguing girl in an obvious blonde wig, a brash aristocratic Major and his alluring Texan wife.
  The next morning, before Archie has time even to lay the ghosts of his father’s memory to rest, he is treated to another dose of terrible news: Sgt. Page, the local bobby, tells him that his father’s grave has been desecrated, and worse, the body stolen.
  And so begins a uniquely British whodunit ?: A fairytale rollercoaster which drags Archie headlong into not only the fantastically shady wheelings and dealings of his long-lost father, but into the very depths of who exactly ‘Archie Ember’ really is…
  Archie, long-gone to waste in his London job as a bureaucrat, is invigorated by a perilous journey of self-discovery. Like a moth to a flame he’s drawn to the beautiful Bridget and her curious wig, an enigma obsessed with Hollywood legend and the sirens of the silver screen. But as Archie’s heart begins to fill up, the net closes ever tightly around him, and he is drawn into a sordid labyrinth of suspicion, larceny, haute cuisine, murder and ultimately…. taxidermy.
  His fate is hopelessly entwined with that of the tattooed Swansea rogue Lynfudd, who’s own road to ruin meets a perilous crossroads with Achie’s path to self-discovery. What were Aldridge Ember and Lynfudd doing on a flight back from Düsseldorf anyway? And what part does the raging Major play in this most foul jigsaw?
  Billington Wood is a delicate and surreal ebony-black comedy: A story that drags Archie Ember, the modern disaffected British everyman, kicking and screaming into a vivid snow-shaker of intrigue, danger, excitement, attraction and more often than not, utter trepidation. Through a posthumous reconciliation with his father, Archie learns finally to be at ease with his own genetic shortcomings, ultimately unearthing the very élan vital that has eluded him since the long-gone days of his most irregular childhood.
- Beginning of shooting
- Jun 01, 2013