What are the most popular filming destinations for movies and TV shows?

We reveal the top locations made famous by TV Series and Film

Most people get a buzz when they see a location they know and love pop up in a TV show or movie. The thought that one of your favourite actors has been in your neck of the woods (maybe at your local coffee shop!) gives a warm, fuzzy six degrees of separation feeling.  Even more of a thrill can be seeing familiar surroundings dressed up to look like a different time period or even other city. Much to the delight of Mancunians, one of Manchester’s oldest library buildings stood in for a 1920s Westminster in series five of Peaky Blinders and the city’s Northern Quarter was recently transformed into New York City to film the Marvel movie ‘Morbius’ which is due out in 2020. Research shows us that lots of the UK’s cities, towns and their buildings often act as movie sets, but what places have pulled in the most production crews?

Here at Leonardo Hotels, we wanted to find out where in the UK and Ireland has featured in the most films and TV series. To try and answer that question, we’ve trawled through 5915 IMDb movie listings to find the most popular filming locations across the UK and Ireland.

Unsurprisingly, our sprawling Capital City, London, is streets ahead in the list with 10 times as many listings as anywhere else in the UK, appearing 1,008 times as a filming location in the data, showing the city in all its glory in movies such as Spiderman: Far From Home and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.

However, you may be surprised to know, thanks to its epic skyline and atmospheric streets, London has actually pretended to be lots of other places for movies - From New York City in Sleepy Hollow to the inside of the Death Star in Star Wars: Rogue One, London has played ‘dress up’ for lots of other cities and locations.

No surprises in that major cities such as Edinburgh, Manchester and Liverpool rank highly due to their size, range of period locations and architectural styles. Edinburgh’s winding streets feature in One Day and Trainspotting. Whereas Manchester’s Town Hall has featured as The Houses of Parliament in Darkest Hour and it’s Dale Street in the Northern Quarter featured as 1940s New York in Captain America: The First Avenger.

A large amount of filming for Peaky Blinders is shot in Liverpool, representing early 20^th century Birmingham, plus transforming into 1920s New York for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. There are some interesting lesser known places that feature, such as Hatfield in Hertfordshire (home to the iconic Hatfield House), that rank above Birmingham, Edinburgh and Belfast at 10^th position with 39 citations. The King’s Speech, Batman Begins and The Favourite have all had scenes filmed in this location.

Another interesting location within the top 20 is Farnham in Surrey, which appears in 28 films according to IMDb. Most notably, Bourne Woods may be the most familiar after a quick image search. This woodland and rural clearing has played host to many iconic films, including a brutal battle scene in Gladiator, winter battle scenes in fictional Sokovia for Avengers: Age of Ultron and a dystopian world for Children of Men.

Looking at the top 20 filming areas across the UK and Ireland we have pulled out some notable locations and the selection of big blockbuster movies and TV series they have featured in:  

Fancy exploring the UK and Ireland to find the locations featured in your favourite films? Leonardo Hotels has locations across the UK to accommodate your needs, from hotels in Glasgow, to visit the Kingston Bridge, hotels in Dublin to visit the filming location of Paddington Bear and London hotels in the filming capital.