Broadchurch used Bristol locations
The third series of crime drama Broadchurch used various filming locations across Bristol and based the production office at the city’s Bottle Yard Studios.
Filming began in May 2016 on the 8 x 60 which comes from Kudos, Imaginary Friends and Sister Pictures with the team housed at the Bristol facility for nine months.
The show’s usual locations of Clevedon, Somerset and West Bay, Dorset were also used, but Series 3 opened out location filming to Bristol backdrops including council office buildings on Temple Street, Victoria Street and Whitchurch Lane – which doubled as newspaper and call centre offices.
Avonmouth’s Queen Street and Avonmouth Docks were also used for filming; the shoot was facilitated by the Bristol Film Office.
Producer Dan Winch said of the location: “With our Broadchurch world well and truly established in the south west, Bristol was the perfect production base. Better still, The Bottle Yard not only enabled us to house our production offices, studio and storage under one roof, it is also located brilliantly for access when filming in central Bristol or indeed the outskirts. The Bottle Yard team have been reachable and supportive every step of the way, and above all have made us feel incredibly at home in Bristol.
“When navigating your way through the many challenges of producing eight hours of scripted drama, it’s so important to weigh up every logistical aspect of the production, in order to give yourselves the best chance of achieving high standards. I can without a doubt say that our set-up at The Bottle Yard helped us hugely and I very much hope to return there with work in the not-too- distant future.”
The Bottle Yard has been home to many high-profile productions in recent years including Poldark, which recently wrapped Series 3 at the facility, and The White Princess which completed a five-month shoot there in the autumn of 2016.
The studio received an investment boost last year when the council approved a capital injection of £692,000.
The money is aimed at site improvements including production offices and will add ballast to Bristol’s profile as a film-friendly city. In 2015 Bristol saw inward investment of £16.7m, with an increase in filming of 65% in 2015/2016.
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