Pub London's pubs had closed. The closures have been ascribed to factors such as changing tastes, rise in the cost of beer due to applied taxes and the increase in the Muslim population. Inns and taverns feature throughout English literature and poetry, from The Tabard Inn in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" onwards. The highwayman Dick Turpin used the Swan Inn at Woughton-on-the-Green in Buckinghamshire as his base. Jamaica Inn near Bolventor in Cornwall gave its name to a 1936 novel by Daphne du Maurier and a 1939 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. In the 1920s John Fothergill (1876–1957) was the innkeeper of
Jamaica Inn (2014 TV series) coaching inn he owns in Cornwall. Mary soon realizes that the inn has no guests and is being used as the hub of Joss' 'free' trade. Mary becomes attracted to Jem Merlyn (Matthew McNulty), Joss' younger brother who is a petty thief. Mary meets Francis Davey (Ben Daniels), the parish vicar, and his sister Hannah (Shirley Henderson). Filming began in September 2013 in Cornwall, Yorkshire and Cumbria (Kirkby Lonsdale). It was originally decided that the series would be filmed in Northern Ireland. An investment from Screen Yorkshire was provided for the series. The three-part series was commissioned by Ben Stephenson