Greece’s powerful Central Archaeological Council (KAS) has again turned down a request by international producers to shoot scenes at one of the country’s best-known landmarks, the Cape Sounion Temple of Poseidon in the case, and for the upcoming BBC series “The Little Drummer Girl”.
Producers of the television adaptation of John le Carré’s (David Cornwell) well-known spy novel of the same name had requested a permit for a one-day shoot at the eponymous promontory southeast of Athens.
Although the same production was issued a license to film atop the Acropolis in central Athens, which is Greece’s best-known and most visited archaeological site, a slim majority of KAS members turned down the request for Sounion.
The reasons given by the majority of members for the rejection was the large number of production members, nearly 120 people, heavy machinery that would ostensibly be employed and what they called a “peak period” in terms of visitors. Producers wanted to film at the site on April 12, 2018, four days after Orthodox Easter Sunday.
A representative of the series production who attended the KAS session told members that in previous such instances, most visitors showed understanding when told a film or television shoot was underway. The representative also offered to pay the admission fee for anyone that turned up and decided to leave.
The KAS decision allowing filming of the same series at the Acropolis cited the fact that night-time shooting would be employed.
