Film & TV in Yorkshire

Last of the Summer Wine | Emmerdale | All Creatures Great and Small | Heartbeat

Yorkshire is the perfect location for any film or TV production and offers beautiful, untouched rural locations that you’ll struggle to find anywhere else.

From wild moorland; rolling dales; magnificently preserved stately homes; gritty urban streets; quaint fishing villages; ancient abbeys; windswept beaches, the region has it all which is why many filmmakers choose Yorkshire.

We are all familiar with the famous film titles; Calendar Girls, Brassed Off, and The Full Monty but more recently Yorkshire has been home to the Oscar winning Atonement.  The famous Dunkirk scenes were filmed partly at Grimsby docks which provided the perfect backdrop. 

Castle Howard acted as a stunning setting for Brideshead Revisited. Set during the golden age before the Second World War, Brideshead Revisited tells the story of Charles Ryder's infatuation with the Marchmain family and the rapidly disappearing world of privilege that they inhabit.

A new production due to be released in 2009, which tells the confrontational and darkly humorous story of Brian Clough’s doomed 44 day tenure as manager of the reigning champions of English football Leeds United.  Damned United film locations include Elland Road, Leeds as well as other Yorkshire areas.

'Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone’ used the North Yorkshire Moors Railway which played a big part, with scenes filmed on both the train and at Pickering and Goathland stations. The Secret Garden was filmed in 1993 and is a delightful tale of three children and their discovery of a magical, secret place. Filmed in Allerton Park, Knaresborough and Fountains Abbey, the film really showcases some of North Yorkshire's finest locations.

 

Yorkshire has proved a sensational counterpoint to the rural screen images of ‘All Creatures Great and Small’; top rated ‘Heartbeat’ and television evergreen ‘Last of the Summer Wine’, that most quirky of Yorkshire’s screen personas.

‘Emmerdale’ made Lower Wharfedale familiar to millions. The fictional Yorkshire village of Emmerdale is now one of the most recognised and famous 'places' in the Yorkshire Dales. The soap is filmed on a purpose built set on the Harewood House estate, in between Leeds and Harrogate, and although not open to visitors, the area is so beautiful it is highly regarded as a popular day out. Many of the scenes in the title sequence are actually in Arncliffe and Littondale.

Yorkshire Television continues to film cult series ‘Heartbeat’ around the North York Moors, in particularly the village of Goathland.   Whitby starred as the location for Gwyneth Paltrow in AS Byatt’s novel ‘Possession’ and Castle Howard acted as the stunning setting for ‘Brideshead Revisited’.

Film reworks the genius of the Brontes time and again.   Juliet Binoche for example filmed for ‘Wuthering Heights’ in Wharfedale and at East Riddlesden Hall, Keighley.

Interested in a trip around some of the spotlights in Yorkshire?  Then click here for some great inspiration for your visit into the world of TV and film!