Cape Town - A British miniseries about the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb has begun filming in South Africa, with Academy Award-nominated director Peter Webber at the helm.
The four-part miniseries for British broadcaster ITV is titled Tutankhamun and tells the story of English Egyptologist Howard Carter, whose discovery of the tomb in 1922 made world headlines.
Filming began on October 15 in the Northern Cape, parts of which have been transformed into Egypt’s famous Valley of the Kings.
“There are not many jobs in this world where you get to build an exact-to-scale, minutely detailed, life-size replica of Tutankhamun’s tomb,” tweeted Webber before the shoot started.
Webber’s social media posts show a set filled with canvas tents, extras with pith helmets and beards, donkeys and khaki-clad soldiers.
The Northern Cape’s weather has provided appropriate conditions for the shoot.
“It’s tough shooting here – dust, dust, more dust and infernal heat,” he tweeted a few days into filming.
Other parts of the shoot are taking place in Cape Town, with some scenes possibly filmed in Namibia.
English actor Max Irons, 30, has been cast in the leading role of Carter, who discovered the tomb of the forgotten pharaoh after 20 years of toil.
Veteran actor Sam Neill, 68, stars as Lord Carnarvon, the wealthy and eccentric peer who financed Carter’s digs when others had given up on him.
Webber, whose breakthrough 2003 drama Girl With a Pearl Earring starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth garnered three Oscar nominations, praised the work ethic of the South African and international crew.
“(The) crew have endured very tough conditions with good grace and have done great work”.
After shooting on location the production moved to Cape Town for studio work.
The series will be distributed internationally by ITV Studios Global Entertainment.
Weekend Argus