is in Yorkshire, home to Screen Yorkshire’s
Yorkshire Content Fund. The Fund was a key
supporter of the above productions.
Cardiff Bay
Cardiff Bay is a diverse waterfront built
around a 200 hectare freshwater lake, the
largest development of its kind in Europe.
The Bay area offers a variety of locations for
filming including the modern architecture
of the Wales Millennium Centre and the
National Assembly building (known as the
Senedd) to the Grade One listed Pierhead
building which was built in 1897. Cardiff Bay
is also home to the studios at Roath Lock,
the BBC’s centre of excellence for drama
where productions such as Doctor Who and
Casualty are based. The BBC’s investment
in the region has been key to Cardiff’s
success. Doctor Who has used locations like
Roald Dahl Plas, Mermaid Quay and Mount
Stuart Square over the years. Other major
productions to have shot in Cardiff include
Torchwood, Upstairs Downstairs, Sherlock
and Da Vinci’s Demons.
Blackpool Tower, Lights, Action…
Blackpool is a British institution and a
regular stopping-off point for film, TV and
commercials producers. The BBC even
made a series entitled Blackpool, starring
David Tennant.
Other productions to have filmed here
over the last decade include Nowhere Boy,
Waterloo Road, Red Riding and, most
recently, The Harry Hill Movie. Comedian
Hill spent five days filming in the city, much
to the delight of Marketing Blackpool’s
communications manager Sarah Rhodes
who said: “It is aimed at a family audience
so we feel it will be a fantastic showcase for
some of the town’s most iconic landmarks
and attractions.”
Caerwent, Wales
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is one of the
UK’s largest landowners with 600,000 acres,
consisting of some 4000 built and rural
sites. There are more than 45,000 buildings
(excluding housing), including barracks,
bunkers, naval bases, historic buildings,
hangars and warehouses. The rural estate
includes woods, plains and lakes. A good
example of what is on offer is Caerwent,
Monmouthshire, which was formerly used
for the manufacture of explosives and the
storage of ammunition. Torchwood and Dr
Who filmed here. For more MoD properties
visit the Landmarc
.
Dartmoor National Park, Devon
The Lake District, Snowdonia, The
Yorkshire Dales, The Mourne Mountains,
The Highlands… all have much to offer
filmmakers. But not to be overlooked is
Devon’s Dartmoor, which played host to
feature film War Horse (image: Dreamworks
Studios). You don’t need to take our word
for it though. Steven Spielberg said: “I have
never before, in my long and eclectic career,
been gifted with such an abundance of
natural beauty as I experienced filming War
Horse on Dartmoor. And, with two-and-a-
half-weeks of coverage of landscapes and
skies, I hardly scratched the surface of the
visual opportunities offered to me”.
River Lagan, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Belfast is booming as a film hub thanks
to substantial efforts by Northern Ireland
Screen to bring production to Ulster. Blessed
with a great studio (Titanic), attractive
incentives and beautiful locations nearby,
its biggest coup to date has been Game Of
Thrones. The above image of River Lagan,
however, shows there’s more to Northern
Ireland than its craggy coastline and rolling
hills. Thoroughly modern, it has played
its part in The Fall and Keith Lemon: The
Film. The latter was backed by NI Screen
and used a wide range of Belfast locations
including Linenhall Street, Titanic Drawing
Offices, House of Fraser (Victoria Square),
The Waterfront Hall, Bedford Street, Waring
Street and much more.
Stanley Dock, Liverpool
Liverpool’s docklands are a great example
of the UK’s industrial heritage. Pride of place
probably goes to Stanley Dock Tobacco
Warehouse, reputed to be the world’s largest
warehouse. Stanley Dock is also popular as
a location, being used to double for Brooklyn
in Captain America and Birmingham in
Peaky Blinders. Speaking to the Liverpool
Echo, Liverpool Film Office manager, Lynn
Saunders, said: “It was a real coup for the
city to provide filming locations (for Peaky
Blinders). They wanted to recreate the
Victorian industrial heartland (of Birmingham)
and as soon as the producers saw Stanley
Dock they realised this was the location to
film.”
Tooting Bec Lido, London
Tooting Bec Lido is the kind of hidden gem
that London is famous for. Opened to the
public in July 1906, it is the largest swimming
pool by surface area in the UK. The bright
red, yellow, and green doors of the changing
cubicles make the Lido a popular location
for TV, film and ad shoots. It featured in Guy
Ritchie’s 2000 film Snatch (starring Brad Pitt)
and recently, TV series Endeavour filmed
there. In this case, it was used to host a
1960s pageant competition, complete with
contestants in period swimsuits. Photo
courtsey of Film London/Jamie Lumley
The Knowledge
e-guide
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