Fortitude filmed final series on Svalbard

The third and final series of arctic-set Sky Atlantic drama Fortitude was filmed partly on location on Svalbard, an archipelago midway between Norway and the North Pole.

Author: Nick Goundry

Published: 06 Dec 2018

Fortitude

The third and final series of Arctic-set Sky Atlantic drama Fortitude was filmed partly on location on Svalbard, an archipelago midway between Norway and the North Pole.

Fortitude is in fact set in the area, in the town of Longyearbyen, but filmed its previous series on location in Iceland, which doubled for the Arctic.

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Production company Fifty Fathoms filmed in Longyearbyen for three weeks, largely dressing existing local builds for the story’s settings.

“Svalbard is a very popular location for wildlife and becoming more popular for dramas and feature films,” says Jason Roberts, of local service company Polar-X, the local company that worked on Fortitude, in comments to KFTV.

“It is the only easily accessible location in the high-Arctic and has super-modern infrastructure and services, making it the perfect choice for a production with a large crew.”

Svalbard is administered by a Norwegian-appointed government. As a country, Norway has seen its international production profile rise in recent years since launching a 25% filming incentive.

Stage work for Fortitude was filmed at The Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol in the west of England. Fifty Fathoms was based at the facility for six months and shot on three separate stages.

“Filming in Bristol at The Bottle Yard Studios was a genuinely happy experience,” says Patrick Spence, an executive producer on the series.

“The cast and crew immediately felt at home, the facilities and staff were top-rate, and the shoot ran smoothly due in no small part to their help.”

The Bottle Yard Studios offers a selection of production spaces and has hosted period dramas including Poldark, The White Princess and Wolf Hall, as well as entertainment format The Crystal Maze.

See KFTV's production guide for more on filming in Norway.

Image: Sky Atlantic

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