For five days from 29th August 2023, Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate (QE) in York welcomed the cast and crew of popular CBBC show, Jamie Johnson FC.
The show focuses on the fictional Hawx United Academy, where young hopefuls train to try and make it as professional footballers. It is a spinoff of the hit CBBC show, Jamie Johnson, which ran for seven seasons from 2016 to 2022 and focused on lead character, Jamie, following his dream of becoming a professional footballer.
Strike, responsible for both the original and spin off show, took advantage of the 220-acre campus with filming locations including QE’s self-run and highly popular Woodlands Coffee Shop, as well as QE’s oldest and most famous building, Armorial Hall, which was once home to literary great, Anne Bronte.
With football being a key element of the show, the majority of the filming took place on QE’s professional grass surfaced football pitches, which as well as being used by the PE department, football teams, and football coaching staff, are rented over summer by high-profile football academy clubs including Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Sheffield Wednesday.
Sam Talbot, Executive Producer and Director at the London-based production company, commented on the experience of filming at QE, “It was a pleasure to film a crucial part of our second series of Jamie Johnson FC at Queen Ethelburga’s. From the grounds to the commercial staff, we were made to feel incredibly welcome by all departments. A hallmark of our series is the authenticity of the football, whether that be our actors who are mostly academy players to the facilities we use. The exceptionally high standard of the pitches and surroundings represented this at its fullest. We look forward to continuing this relationship with Queen Ethelburga’s for future series and in showing it at its best on screen.”
A major coordination task for the site, the Collegiate hosted over 100 crew members and provided areas across the campus for dressing rooms, a production office, and ample truck parking for the storage of costumes and props. QE’s Commercial Manager, Chris Simpson, who coordinated the filming event said that “It was fantastic to see the site being used for such a great project and we cannot wait to see our fabulous facilities, particularly our sports pitches, on the small screen. It created such a buzz around the campus, and it was a real privilege to work with them on their popular show. The Grounds Manager, Ben Grigor, and his team work tirelessly to keep the pitches maintained to a professional standard. It is these high standards that impress anyone that comes onsite and ultimately plays a huge part in securing us superb opportunities such as working on this project for the CBBC.”
QE’s Commercial Lettings Liaison, Louis Morton, was the primary contact for the production company and looked after them during the duration of their visit. He said of their time onsite, “They were blown away by the amazing facilities we have, and they were constantly telling me how good everything looked on the footage. It was a real pleasure to work with them.”
In addition to the film cast and crew, the busy collegiate site was hosting various summer schools and holiday camps, all of which were coordinated by the Collegiate’s Commercial and Leisure Team and catered for by QE’s award-winning catering team, who supplied meals onsite for all cast and crew. QE’s Catering General Manager, Fran Graves, said of preparing the meals, “It was a pleasure catering for the CBBC cast and crew, who all seemed to enjoy the food on offer, with one of the crew commenting that our breakfasts are awesome, which was lovely to share with our hard-working team.”
The series has just been released and is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Staff and students across the whole Collegiate are thrilled to see the grounds in Season 2 Episode 8 of the show, especially with QE’s own football camp coming in the summer of 2025.
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