Gwendoline Christie joins campaign to save Derek Jarman's former home and archive

Game Of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie has backed the campaign to save the seaside home of celebrated filmmaker and artist Derek Jarman and called on the Culture Secretary to do the same. The actress, who recently starred in the film version of David Copperfield, said watching Jarman’s work as a teenager “opened my mind to the possibilities of cinema”.

Jarman bought Prospect Cottage, near Dungeness nuclear power station in Kent, in 1986 and turned the bleak shingle in front of it into a much admired garden which inspired a book and a 1990 film.

Now, 26 years after his death, the property risks being sold off. A group of his friends and admirers including actress Tilda Swinton, who worked on many of his films, helped launch the campaign to raise £3.5 million to save it.

Christie said she was “beguiled” by the old fisherman’s hut he called home. She said: “I found power in his magical yet simple home built with love.

“I was entranced by the strange beauty of the nearby Nuclear power station. It has such an essentially British eccentricity whilst simultaneously questioning all those values.”

The proposed scheme would see visitors to the area allowed free access to the garden with guided visits inside the cottage which would host an artist in residence.

Christie said the recently appointed Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden should intervene as the “cottage is a significant piece of cultural history and should be supported”.

She added she “longed for it to be maintained”, saying: “It is an inspiration to the many ways of creation that are possible, necessary and beautiful.”

The fundraising campaign has raised more than £2.1 million already, with 40 days left to find the rest.

Jarman, who studied at the Slade School of Art, trained as a painter and worked in set design on films and with the Royal Ballet before starting out as a director. He also wrote poetry and a series of memoirs and made videos for bands including The Smiths, The Pet Shop Boys and Suede.

For more information about the campaign go to: artfund.org/prospect

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Tilda Swinton calls on artists to help save Derek Jarman's home