Nicole Taylor’s BBC One thriller The Nest stars Sophie Rundle and Martin Compston as a wealthy Glasgow couple desperate for a baby. They strike a deal with a troubled 18-year-old, played by Mirren Mack, to carry their child, and things don’t go to plan.
The series was shot in 2019 on our ARRI Alexa Mini LFs, and The Nest was only the second production ever to use the camera, straight after Sam Mendes’s 1917. The large format sensor suited the show’s natural, intimate style: around three-quarters of it was handheld, with a lot of shooting at dusk and twilight, and the lenses were often wide open to hold the last of the light.
Directors of Photography Matt Gray BSC and Tim Palmer BSC paired the cameras with Canon K35 primes, which cover the large format beautifully.
It was filmed around Glasgow, Paisley, East Kilbride and Helensburgh. A glass-walled house on Loch Long played the couple’s home, and the Devil’s Pulpit at Finnich Glen stood in for Calderwood Falls.
Directors of Photography: Matt Gray BSC (episodes 1–3), Tim Palmer BSC (episodes 4–5)
Directors: Andy De Emmony, Simen Alsvik
Production: Studio Lambert for BBC One
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– ARRI Alexa Mini LF
Read more about how The Nest was shot in The Broadcast Bridge.