2015 - The Force Awakens

The Star Wars series began in 1977 and so far there have been two trilogies of movies. December 2015 saw the theatrical release of Episode VII - The Force Awakens, which has been filmed at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, using British expertise in cast and crew, and the two further episodes in this final trilogy will be filmed in the UK.

The producers of the new movies decided to return to a British studio and crew whose expertise and professionalism contributed to the success of the earlier films. The new film, The Force Awakens, will reunite the three US principle actors from the original trilogy, reprising their iconic roles, as well as the robots R2-D2 and C-3PO and the alien Chewbacca. New characters will be introduced, many of which are played by British actors and include Daisy Ridley and John Boyega (both cast as leads).

On the 20^th October 2015 Royal Mail released a set of 12 stamps featuring iconic heroes and villains from the franchise in two se-tenant strips of six as well as a miniature sheet featuring various iconic vehicles from the films.

To mark the cinematic release of Star Wars Episode VII – The Force Awakens, in Britain on the 17th December 2015 followed by the USA one day later on the 18^th December, Royal Mail has produced a PSB book containing the set of 12 stamps featuring iconic heroes and villains from the franchise and the 6 stamps from the Miniature sheet, all previously released on the 20^th October 2015 as well as a unique pane of Machin stamps. Panes 1 and 5 feature the character stamps in blocks of 6 in a different combination to their original release of two se-tenant strips of six.

To mark the cinematic release of The Force Awakens in China on the 9th January 2016 Royal Mail released a special handstamp (13738).