Over the coming days and weeks if you find yourself at home and with some time to relax why catch up on some sensational Yorkshire based and Yorkshire inspired productions. Now is the chance to watch that Box Set or film that passed you by. Thanks to our colleagues at Screen Yorkshire we are able to bring you a selection of productions to watch and enjoy in the comfort of your front room.
Yorkshire has attracted an increasing number of high-profile productions in recent years, with some of the industry’s biggest names attached. An outstanding area of natural beauty, the largest county in England offers large sweeping vistas of moorland, coastline and the stunning Yorkshire Dales.
Shows such as Gentleman Jack (BBC 1) & Victoria (ITV) have recently showcased Yorkshire’s historic mill towns and rich portfolio of stately homes. It’s not just the pretty cobbled streets and quaint villages that pull in TV crews however. Yorkshire’s gritty industrial heritage and modern urban cityscapes have recently featured in TV dramas like The ABC Murders, The Virtues, Peaky Blinders & Doctor Who.
Table of Contents
Bridgerton (Netflix)
About: Following in the footsteps of popular period dramas such as Downton Abbey and Victoria, this new series brings the traditional elements with a dose of modernity and a slightly steamier narrative. The show is described as “Downton Abbey meets Gossip Girl” which is a concept that needs to be seen to believed. Bridgerton is primarily set in 1800s London and follows a handful of debutantes and their families as they navigate the search for suitable husbands. You can expect glamourous ball scenes set against magnificent stately homes (including one of Yorkshire’s own) and a pot-stirring narrator.
Starring: Regé-Jean Page, Pheobe Dynevor, Jonathan Bailey and Julie Andrews
Yorkshire Filming Locations: Bridgerton was shot in 2019 at Castle Howard and Coneysthorpe which feature in the series as Clyvedon Castle and Clyvedon Village, the Duke of Hastings’ family estate. Look out for plenty of handsome angles of Yorkshire’s most grandiose and glamorous country estate.
Gunpowder (BBC iPlayer)
About: We all know the story of Guy Fawkes and his plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament – but do we know the whole story? This thrilling BBC retelling of events leading up to that fateful day.
Starring: Kit Harrington, Liv Tyler and Tom Cullen
Yorkshire Film Locations: Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire, Beverley Minster, and Kirkstall Abbey and Oakwell Hall in Leeds. Country scenes were shot in Strid Wood at Bolton Abbey estate and around brooding Ilkley Moor.
The English Game (Netflix) released Friday 20 March
About: The English Game, a new six-part drama from Netflix, charts the origins of football and how those involved in its creation reached across the class divide to establish the game as the world’s most popular sport.
Starring: Edward Holcroft, Kevin Guthrie, Charlotte Hope
Yorkshire Film Locations: Broughton Hall near Skipton, Little Germany in Bradford, Saltaire, the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway and Sowerby Bridge, Calderdale.
Last Tango in Halifax series 5 (BBC)
About: Bafta-winning series following the surprising and uplifting journey of Celia and Alan as they rekindle a passionate relationship after 60 years apart. Their marriage is proof that, whatever your age, relationships will always be complicated.
Starring: Anne Reid, Derek Jacobi, Sarah Lancashire
Yorkshire Film Locations: Last Tango In Halifax is set in the Calder Valley and filmed widely across Calderdale including Halifax town centre, Sowerby Bridge, Ripponden and Elland. Other filming locations include: Bridlington, Ilkley, Batley, Doncaster Sheffield Airport, the Royal Armouries Museum (Leeds) and Broughton Hall (Skipton). The production was based at Studio 81 in Leeds.
The ABC Murders (BBC)
About: BAFTA nominated writer Sarah Phelps returns to explore the 20th Century through Christie’s work. This time the setting is the 1930s, a time when the nation is dangerously divided and suspicion and hatred are on the rise. In the midst of this, Poirot faces a serial killer known only as A.B.C. First the killer strikes in Andover, then Bexhill. As the murder count rises, the only clue is the copy of The ABC Railway Guide at each crime scene. Poirot’s investigations are thwarted at every turn by an enemy determined to outsmart him. If Poirot is to match his nemesis then everything about him will be called into question: his authority, his integrity, his past, his identity.
Starring: John Malkovich, Eamon Farren, Michael Shaeffer, Rupert Grint
Yorkshire Film Locations: A range of period Yorkshire locations were used, doubling for 1930s London, including; Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, Leeds Town Hall, Quebecs Hotel, Leeds, The Queens Hotel, Leeds, Victoria Leeds, Bradford City Hall, Ripon Spa Baths, Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, Embsay Historic Railway and St John’s Square Wakefield. Additional filming locations included; Little Germany in Bradford, Saltaire Village, North Yorkshire Moors Railway, Newby Hall and Allerton Castle. The production filmed its studio based scenes at Prime Studios in Leeds. Production Offices were based at Studio 81.
Doctor Who (BBC) series 11 & 12
About: The Doctor, a Time Lord/Lady from the race whose home planet is Gallifrey, travels through time and space in their ship the T.A.R.D.I.S. (an acronym for Time and Relative Dimension In Space) with numerous companions. From time to time The Doctor regenerates into a new form (which is how the series has been running since the departure of the original actor, William Hartnell, in 1966).
Starring: Jodie Whittaker
Yorkshire Film Location: Sheffield
Gentleman Jack (BBC iPlayer)
About: A dramatization of the life of LGBTQ+ trailblazer, voracious learner and cryptic diarist Anne Lister, who returns to Halifax, West Yorkshire in 1832, determined to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home Shibden Hall.
Starring: Suranne Jones, Sophie Rundle, Rosie Cavaliero
Yorkshire Film Locations: Gentleman Jack is set in Halifax and filmed widely across Yorkshire, showcasing the region’s incredible portfolio of period locations; not least Shibden Hall, the historic home where Anne herself lived. Other filming locations include: Sutton Park (near York,) Newby Hall (Ripon) Bramham Estate (Leeds), Fairfax House (York) Broughton Hall (Skipton), Harewood House Estate (Leeds), Treasurer’s House (York), Oakwell Hall (Birstall), St Peter’s Church (Sowerby), Halifax Town Centre, Lawrence Batley Theatre & Queens Street (Huddersfield), Little Germany (Bradford), Wentworth Woodhouse, Ripponden Moor Holy Trinity Church and City of York streets. Production offices were based at Studio 81 in Leeds.
Ackley Bridge series 1,2 & 3 (Channel 4)
About: The merging of two schools causes plenty of problems for headmistress Mandy who has to deal with explosive fall-outs and problem pupils.
Starring: Amy-Leigh Hickman, Sunetra Sarker, Lorraine Cheshire
Yorkshire Film Locations: filmed primarily at Halifax, but also in Leeds and Bradford.
Official Secrets
About: The true story of a British whistleblower who leaked information to the press about an illegal NSA spy operation designed to push the UN Security Council into sanctioning the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Starring: Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Matthew Goode
Yorkshire Film Locations: OFFICIAL SECRETS filmed primarily in Yorkshire at locations including: Leeds City Centre, Chapel Allerton, Roundhay, Boston Spa, Otley Police Station, Bradford City Hall, Shipley, Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and Robin Hood Airport, Doncaster and the Northern Film & TV Studios. Production Offices were based at Prime Studios. Additional scenes were filmed in Manchester and Liverpool.
Downton Abbey Movie
About: The continuing story of the Crawley family, wealthy owners of a large estate in the English countryside in the early twentieth century.
Starring: Matthew Goode, Michelle Dockery, Dame Maggie Smith
Yorkshire Film Locations: North Yorkshire Moors Railway, (including Pickering Railway Station), Wentworth Woodhouse, Little Germany in Bradford, Harewood House and Dalton Mills in Keighley, whilst Highclere Castle in Berkshire continues to serve as the key country house location.
Testament of Youth
About: A British woman recalls coming of age during World War I – a story of young love, the futility of war, and how to make sense of the darkest times.
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Taron Egerton
Yorkshire Film Locations: Brodsworth Hall in Doncaster, Sheffield Town Hall, Sum Studios, Leeds City Varieties, Little Germany Bradford, Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, Leeds Art Gallery & Leeds City Library, Robin Hoods Bay, Cloughton Wyke, Whinbrow, Goathland area, and the Old Terry’s Chocolate Factory in York.
Dark River
About: Following the death of her father, Alice (Ruth Wilson) returns to her home village for the first time in 15 years, to claim the tenancy to the family farm she believes is rightfully hers.
Starring: Ruth Wilson, Jonah Russell, Paul Robertson
Yorkshire Film Locations: Skipton and Malham.
Swallows and Amazons
About: Four children (the Swallows) on holiday in the Lake District sail on their own to an island and start a war with rival children (the Amazons). In the meantime, a mysterious man on a houseboat accuses them of a crime they did not commit.
Starring: Bobby McCulloch, Dane Hughes, Kelly Macdonald
Yorkshire Film Locations: Locations: Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, Plumpton Rocks, Stockeld Park, Heptonstall and Wakefield.
The Secret Garden
About: The film follows orphaned Mary Lennox as she explores her uncle’s mysterious Yorkshire home and discovers the locked secret garden. With the help of her new friend Dickon “Amir Wilson” the children manage to bring the garden back to life.
Starring: Dixie Egerickx, Colin Firth, Julie Walters
Yorkshire Film Locations: Helmsley Walled Gardens, Duncombe Park, Fountains Abbey and North Yorkshire Moors Railway.