Article written by Melanie Locke
A Seaford Resident is the central character in a new film – PRESSURE based on the WW2 D-Day Landings delays and some filming at the Coastguard Cottages
Group Captain James Martin Stagg, CB, OBE, FRSE
(30 June 1900 – 23 June 1975)
Who lived at 33 Carlton Road, SEAFORD
This house now displays a Blue Plaque as part of Seaford Heritage Walks.
On a summer walk over Seaford Head Nature Reserve, on 20 September 2024, I spotted the familiar (to local residents) signs that there was filming ongoing. As I walked through South Hill Barn car park, I saw all the parked cars and food van on the tank turning circle.
As I approached Coastguard Cottages, I was aware of something floating in the air, it appeared to be a large balloon and disappeared off towards the cliff edge.
I then saw two men in RAF uniform, several film crew and another balloon flat on the floor.
One of the men was familiar – I then realised he was Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes – the actor James SCOTT
A short while later I saw several men inflating another large balloon.
I was intrigued as to what was being filmed and was pleased to learn the film centres on a Seaford person.
The film will be called Pressure and is based on Group Captain James Martin STAGG, CB, OBE, FRSE.
STAGG who was a British Met Office meteorologist attached to the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. As the chief Meteorologist to General Dwight D. EISENHOWER he advised of a narrow ‘weather window’ for the Allied invasion of Europe. STAGG effectively persuades EISENHOWER that the date must be delayed from 5 to 6 June 1944.
How fitting that the scene depicting the releasing of the weather balloons was filmed in SEAFORD where STAGG came to live.
The film is an adaptation of the play that was written by David HAIG in 2014. The play centred on “ The personal and military stresses of Stagg, the tensions between the teams with different weather forecasts for the date of the proposed D-Day, and the events of the 72 hours leading up to D-Day are explored throughout the play”.
The Daily Mail published a story on 4 October 2024 entitled ‘The wrong conditions could devastate the largest ever seaborne invasion, while any delay risks German intelligence catching on’. The news article contains many photos of the realistic enactment of the landings on D-Day (but filmed at Camber Sands again in East Sussex).
So possibly a blockbuster film with the central character a SEAFORD resident and filmed at the Coastguard Cottages in SEAFORD…
References
Celebrating Seaford 