Poirot's The Theft Of The Royal Ruby
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Joldwynds has been film location for productions like The Hunger, with David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon, two Poirot chapters The Theft of The Royal Ruby and The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim, the latest re-make of Blithe Spirit and the next Roahl Dahl biopic to be released.
Blithe Spirit is based on the 1941 play by Nöel Coward and is a re-make of the 1945 British comedy film.
The crew came in summer 2020, from May to July, and took over the whole of the house and grounds, including Philip Webb's pavillion as the writer's studio. In this trailer you can already see how Joldwynds became another character in the story.
This Roahl Dahl biopic with Hugh Bonneville & Keeley Hawes will be released in 2021. They used some of the interiors of Joldwynds, the dining room which the production transformed into a which very quickly show in the trailer. The dining room was turned into a dressmaker studio and you can glipse the drawing room as the couple's sitting room, the beautiful surrounding woods of Joldwynds are also featured here.
Joldwynds becomes the house of a wealthy banker who disappears inexplicably. Hercule Poirot is challenged to resolve the mystery without leaving his own home and he accepts the wager. The episode was filmed in 1989 and aired on the 4th of February 1990, adding Joldwynds to the pantheon of modernist and Art Deco British buildings acting as backdrop to the series.
Poirot returned in 1991 for the filming of the Theft of the Royal Ruby. This time Joldwynds was turned into the house of an Egyptologist and collector who ends up having a reluctant detective at his Christmas dinner table. The episode was aired on the 24th of February.
Joldwynds iconic front of the house appears in the opening sequence interlaced with Bauhaus’ performance of Bela Lugosi Is Dead. David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve pull into Joldwynds’ driveway in the dead of night with an unwitting couple setting the scene for this film on eternal life. David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon star. During the filming, Bowie fell in love with the house and offered to buy it.