The Former Guest Hospital site in Dudley

The Former Guest Hospital site in Dudley

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A derelict hospital in Dudley has been brought back to life – as the setting for a zombie movie.

The Dudley Guest Hospital is a key location for the film She Who Brings Gifts, starring Glenn Close, Gemma Arterton and Paddy Considine.

The story is set in a future when an infection has made people crave human flesh.

Glenn Close plays a doctor testing infected children to try and find a cure.

Read more: Check out the abandoned Shirley Powergen building used as a filming location for zombie apocalypse

It has been filmed throughout the Midlands, including in Church Street, Birmingham, on Cannock Chase and in a factory in Tipton.

Producer Camille Gatin said she came across the Dudley Guest Hospital on an urban explorer website, which posts photos taken inside abandoned buildings, and knew it was what director Colm McCarthy (Peaky Blinders) was looking for.

“It wasn’t depressing and horrible. It was just a place that overnight stopped being useful but there were lots of things that showed the life that happened there.

“We were told it had been demolished so we ruled it out. It wasn’t until we came to Dudley that our location manager said it was very much still standing and no one had ever shot here.”

Hollywood star Glenn, a keen hiker, enjoyed walks round the Clent Hills when she wasn’t working.

She also learned what a Yam Yam was.

“The body double for our lead actress (newcomer Sennia Nanua from Nottingham) was from Dudley and she taught us to speak proper,” said Camille. “The first lesson was ‘don’t make the mistake of calling a Yam Yam a Brummie’. And we never did.”

Photographs of Dudley Guest Hospital were provided by Craig Gutteridge and Brian Clift.