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2 months ago
Inside the BBC’s mysterious new drama, set in a lovely country house
This time last year, Welsh stars Eve Myles, Gabrielle Creevy, Sion Daniel Young and more journeyed to the south of their home nation to start filming a gripping new television series, produced by the same company that has in recent years brought us the likes of The Stolen Girl, Fool Me Once and After The Flood, Quay Street Productions. As Myles tells C&TH, ‘The Guest is an intense, female led thriller. It is a story about ambition, opportunity, trauma and love.’
Myles adds that playing Fran – a wealthy business owner who hires Ria (Gabrielle Creevy) as her new cleaner – was ‘a very challenging role’. There is an obvious class dynamic in The Guest: Ria is a gritty working class woman, while Fran leads an opulent life splurging on luxury. But speaking to the BBC Myles commends how ‘both worlds are shown with richness and respect’. ‘It’s rare to see Wales portrayed like this – opulent, ambitious, creative,’ Myles says. ‘There’s always been wealth in Wales, and this series puts that on screen.’
The main setting of the four-part thriller is Fran’s home – Maybury Court – which Myles describes as ‘a beautiful home’, adding ‘the land around it is stunning, filled with all types of animals’ like ‘peacocks and donkeys and cockerels’. And it’s the nucleus of the drama: where Fran and Ria’s class disparity is at its starkest, but also where Ria’s door into a new life opens.
‘It’s an oasis of otherworldliness which lends itself to the otherworldliness of The Guest,’ Myles summarises, speaking to the BBC. But is Maybury Court real? Here’s what you need to know.
Fran (EVE MYLES) in The Guest. (© BBC/Quay Street Productions/Jake Morley)
Much of The Guest centres around Maybury Court, Fran’s mansion in southern Wales. Filming took place at Whitson Court, a real Grade II* listed country house in Goldcliff, Newport, thought to have been designed by John Nash for William Phillips, the High Sheriff for Monmouthshire, around 1791.
Predominantly a private house through time, the three-storey Whitson Court had a short second life as a convent and Christian college in the early 20th century before reverting back to private ownership, as it remains today. It was listed in the ‘60s as an example of one of Wales’ finest smaller country houses, thanks to retaining many of its original features.
One former resident of Whiston Court, Olive Maybury, was an avid animal collector, creating a striking similarity to Fran in The Guest. While Fran houses peacocks, donkeys and cockerels at Maybury Court, the real Whitson Court was once home to exotic animals from overseas, including Bornean sun bears, Himalayan bears, one lion, three lionesses and a large collection of monkeys, reptiles and exotic birds including flamingos and wild macaws. With the help of her family, Olive turned her property into a popular local zoo attraction in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but Whiston Zoo was shut down in 1980 with the animals rehomed.
Behind the scenes at Whiston Court. (© BBC/Quay Street Productions)
When Olive died in 1998, aged 99, her family sold the house and grounds, though Whitson Court ended up empty and was noted on Newport’s Council’s register of at-risk buildings by 2009. Collingbourne Properties then purchased the property and, with the help of Cadw (the Welsh government’s historic environment service), restored the property to its former glory – and then some.
We can see this glory in The Guest: the series’ opening shot is Maybury Court, Fran’s beautiful mansion surrounded by greenery and soundtracked by birdsong. Inside, her charming black cat watches her robot vacuum skate across the carpet in the entrance hall before Fran descends her statement spiral staircase – complete with a pristine white runner carpet – with her eyes glued to her mobile phone. We watch as she moves through the opulently decorated property, passing under the slick kitchen’s chandelier, and past the bespoke cabinetry and shining island, from which Fran collects a used mug to wash up. And then that contrast: Ria’s council flat, where sunlight is an unwelcome visitor to the young woman reluctant to get up and face the day.
Back at Maybury Court, Fran sips coffee on her perron, dwarfed by her home’s magnificent facade. ‘All the mugs are dirty,’ her husband Simon (Julian Lewis Jones) says. ‘I know,’ Fran responds. ‘We need a new cleaner.’
Fran (EVE MYLES) & Ria (GABRIELLE CREEVY) in The Guest. (© BBC/Quay Street Productions/Simon Ridgeway)
Thus begins the journey that leads Fran to Ria – and the two becoming irrevocably intertwined. When we asked Gabrielle Creevy – who co-leads The Guest as Ria – for her standout moment from filming the series, she noted this beautiful setting in particular. ‘Filming in the Gower for sure,’ Creevy said. ‘Lush to see that part of Wales on the screen.’
Speaking to the BBC, Creevy adds: ‘When you first see those gates [to Whitson Court] open, it feels almost magical, like stepping into a fairy tale or a grand castle.’ We viewers get to experience Ria’s awe in the first episode, as her tiny car trundles towards those domineering gates. She pauses her music and is buzzed into the property, with endless landscaped greenery unfolding as her car rolls across the long gravel driveway. ‘Wow, no way,’ she laughs to herself as she pulls up. ‘What the hell?’
‘It’s that feeling of wonder you get when you’re younger, imagining what it would be like to live in a place like that,’ Creevy says. ‘That is exactly how Ria feels when she first sees it; it’s like her chance at a new life. The location is stunning; the grounds are vast, and the landscape of Wales looks beautiful. It really adds a layer of charm and mystery to the story.’
‘The location for Simon and Fran’s house is just jaw-dropping,’ Jones adds. ‘When you drive through the gate for the first time, you just think, “wow – these people have made it”. The house is stunning, it’s genuinely one of the most beautiful locations I’ve worked in.’
Finding the perfect property was no mean feat. ‘How can we find a house that gives us everything we needed from the scripts?’ executive producer Davina Earl recalls pondering. ‘We couldn’t believe it when we found Whitson Court.’
‘The house does everything we needed it to and it’s breathtakingly beautiful,’ Earl tells the BBC. ‘It’s such a special place, not just the house but the grounds, the garden, all the land. It’s magical.’
Gabrielle Creevy as Ria in The Guest. (© BBC/Quay Street Productions/Simon Ridgway)
In the tense fourth and final episode of The Guest, we enter Fran’s second home: an isolated beach house on the Gower Peninsula. The real property is The Old Rectory on Rhossili Bay, peering over the coastline and nestled in acres of its own space right at the tip of the peninsula.
Built in the 19th century, the white-wash house sticks out as the only building on Rhossili Bay, and while it has been operated as a National Trust holiday cottage since 1939, with this isolation comes a storied history. In World War II, for example, The Old Rectory had a second life as the HQ for radar workers.
Sleeping up to seven guests across four bedrooms, The Old Rectory is one of the National Trust’s most popular holiday properties, with guests often booking two years in advance of their stay.
Fancy staying the night (or two… or three…) in a countryside manor house worthy of Fran and Simon? Here are six of our favourite Welsh hotels to check out, and check in.
Up in North Wales, this Grade I Listed 17th century mansion (one of the UK’s loveliest historic estates you can stay in) sits within 200 acres of wooded parkland and boasts panoramic views of the mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park. With a luxurious spa in the former farmhouse and a dining room boasting Llandudno’s very best dishes, once you have checked into welcoming Bodysgallen Hall, you won’t want to leave…
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Nestled in the Pembrokeshire hills, if it’s isolation you are looking for, Grove of Narberth delivers in spades. With some parts of the property dating back to the 15th century, the estate thrums with history – but charming rooms bring a healthy dose of modern luxury to the table. Here’s the C&TH verdict.
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Blissfully hidden in the Dee Valley, pick the Michelin Key holder Palé Hall for the ultimate country house hotel experience. Find just 18 eclectic bedrooms in this Victorian mansion, and an organic restaurant boasting a Michelin Green Star that’s totally worth travelling for.
If you like your countryside with a slice of coast, look no further than Penally Abbey, Tenbury’s 18th century Gothic country mansion hotel exuding bonhomie (and one of our favourite coastal hotels in the UK). Independently owned by Lucas and Melanie Boissevain, expect homegrown produce, cosy sitting rooms with woodburners and just 12 stylish bedrooms.
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This stone-fronted mountain hideaway is as pretty as a picture – and certainly could have fallen right out of a period drama. Dating back to the 19th century, the surrounding area is just as spellbinding as the house, and Penmaenuchaf is the perfect base for any adventure lovers. Inside find eclectic rooms with cossetting fabrics and patterns – which are probably more colourful than Fran would enjoy.
Our last pick is also the closest to Goldcliff where The Guest was filmed, which is historically part of Monmouthshire, too. And like Fran’s mansion, The Bell at Skenfrith finds that masterful balance between historic exterior and period features with contemporary-cosy interiors. With only 11 rooms to its name, you’ll feel right at home sinking into the fireside sofas and soaking up the sun on the pretty garden terrac.
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The Guest premieres tonight at 9pm on BBC One. New episodes air on Mondays.
All four episodes are available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.
