Visiting UK TV and Film Locations
As a follow-on to the article about holidays in the UK what could be better for the film buffs amongst us is to visit the settings of our favourite television and films. Be prepared to drive though because on screen the places may be beside one another but in reality they are often 10’s if not 100’s of miles apart.
So where to start….
Scotland will provide lots of locations whether it is Outlander, Local Hero, Train Spotting, Taggart, Highlander or Chariots of Fire for the opening beach run. Comedies of Rab C Nesbit or Still Game will take you around Glasgow.
The North of England if you are a George Gently or Vera fan you will take in Northumberland, Newcastle, Durham and Middlesbrough and many of the surrounding towns. A bit further south you will get in to Heartbeat country around Whitby and the North Yorkshire moors or James Heriots backyard of the moors and Yorkshire Dales. You have The Likely Lads and Last of the Summer Wine as a northern comedies and dramas such as When the Boat Comes In.
To the West you will have the great Manchester and Liverpool dramas of Boys from the Black Stuff, Life on Mars, Last Tango in Halifax, Happy Valley and comedies such as Care Share The Liver Birds, Bread, The Royle Family and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps. In the Lake District Swallows and Amazons and Heart of the Lakes.
In the Midlands you have gritty Peaky Blinders and Dalziel and Pascoe with Boon and Cadfael as a bit lighter hearted. Comedies such as Citizen Khan and Carrot Confidential.
In middle England you have Brideshead Revisited, Midsummer Murders, Inspector Morse (including Endeavour and Lewis) and Bridget Jones’s Diary and programmes like Father Brown, Lark Rise to Candleford and Wolf Hall. Or the comedies like The Vicar of Dibley.
The South of England has Downton Abbey and Dunkirk or who can ignore in Kent you have the recent Oscar winner The Darkest Hour and Darling Buds of May.
East of England has the Eagle has Landed and Shakespeare in Love and not in France, Allo Allo, or recent hit The Detectorists, or, Norfolk based I’m Alan Partridge.
The South West has Cornwall with Poldark and Doc Martin with a trip to Dorset and Lyme Regis the French Lieutenant Woman and the iconic scene on the harbour wall. Others along the South Coast and West of London include Broadchurch, Innocent and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Comedies such as Fawlty Towers and The Office.
In Wales you have the dramas The Indian Doctor, Being Human, Torchwood, Merlin and Dr Who and who could ignore Barry Island and Gavin and Stacey.
Not forgetting Northern Ireland where Game of thrones, The Fall, 37 Days as major dramas and then recent comedy hit Derry Girls and the comedy farce Blandings.
You then get Films and shows like Harry Potter that has used locations across the UK, if you fancy a UK-wide road trip, equally many a James Bond has used UK locations.
What we have not covered is London, but this is all about seeing the rest of the UK!
So next time you are out in the UK whether a day out or holiday it never goes a miss to do an internet search and see whether you could be stepping in the footsteps of your favourite actors and actresses.
