Blockbuster Wonka has been released by Warner Bros with scenes from the magical movie filmed in Lyme Regis.

Starring Hollywood A-lister Timothée Chalamet in the title role, fantasy film Wonka introduces cinema audiences to a young Willy Wonka, as he becomes the world’s greatest inventor, magician and chocolatier.

As well as Timothée Chalamet, the ensemble cast of Wonka includes Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carter, Olivia Colman and Hugh Grant as a green-haired Oompa Loompa.

Scenes from the world of pure imagination were filmed in Lyme Regis with The Cobb being transformed into a winter wonderland.

The world’s last surviving steam drifter, 1930’s Lydia Eva, was moored in the harbour for the scene which sees the young Willy Wonka arrive in England. 

The Cobb which curves around the harbour features in two key scenes providing a grand entrance for Willy as he arrives on top of his van having disembarked from his travels around the world. Timothée Chalamet is seen on The Cobb skipping down the famous Lyme Regis steps.

Photo © Simon Emmett

Production Designer, Nathan Crowley, talked about the Wonka locations for Time Out Magazine and said of Lyme Regis ‘I knew we had to open the film at a port in the fictional Roald Dahl city,’ remembers Crowley, ‘and I've always liked Lyme Regis because of “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”. ‘There’s something about that stone Cobb (the harbour wall) and the way it curves that’s beautiful.’

Lyme Regis has provided the scenic backdrop to several productions including Ammonite, starring Oscar-winner Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, for the movie of Mary Anning.

Dakota Johnson filmed scenes for a new adaption of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, a film that is predominately set in the town and Lyme was famously the setting of the Oscar-nominated 1981 movie The French Lieutenant's Woman starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons.

Plan your visit to experience the magic of Wonka in Lyme Regis, where the real and reel worlds seamlessly intertwine. Explore Lyme Regis or head inland to some of Dorset’s chocolate box villages.  Enjoy your own chocolate adventure sampling Dorset’s delicious locally made chocolate from Chococo, Purbeck Chocolate or Dorchester Chocolates and many more!