A blue Mercedes van rolled half a mile along a harbour wall where vehicles aren’t allowed, parked up, and out came Tom Kerridge with a fishing rod.
Locals watching in Brixham, Devon, said he didn’t catch anything.
The 508D moved slowly down the breakwater walkway on Thursday (8 Oct), filmed by onlookers who couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing.
A second clip showed it parked, a car behind it with hazards flashing, and the chef standing nearby with his rod out.
The structure was built to shelter the town’s fishing fleet. It’s pedestrian only.
People on the breakwater at the time confirmed Kerridge was being filmed.
The van was later driven back off, as reported by CreatorZine.
“Good luck on reversing”
The vehicle isn’t anonymous. It turned up in the 2024 ITV series Tom Kerridge Cooks and in a Marks & Spencer ad campaign, and Brixham residents clocked it straight away.
Clocking it and approving of it were two different things.
“Do they not realise vehicles don’t normally go along there?” one said.
A third offered: “Good luck on reversing.”
One witness pointed out the rules go further than driving.
“Vehicles aren’t allowed on the breakwater,” they said.
“People aren’t allowed to dive on it – they must have sought permission.”
Another: “The van says Tom Kerridge on the side so I guess they’re filming.”
Why it matters for creators
Filming permissions are the unglamorous admin that nobody posts about and everybody needs.
A production rolls into a location, gets the shot, leaves – and the people who live there are the ones left with the footage going round their group chats.
For anyone making content in public spaces, the gap between “we probably can” and “we checked” is where the story comes from.
Kerridge, 53, has pubs, restaurants, TV series and several books behind him.
None of that stops a phone camera on a harbour wall.
The locals-versus-cameras problem
Small coastal towns across the UK have spent the past few years pushing back on film crews, influencers and tourists treating their infrastructure as a backdrop.
Brixham is a working fishing port, not a set, and the breakwater rules exist because of what the sea does to people who ignore them.
Torbay Council, Brixham Harbour Authority and Kerridge have been asked for comment.
Whether permission was granted is the only question that actually settles this, and so far nobody has answered it.
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