Yorkshire film & TV locations
Vast range of scenery for TV programme and film makers
It has countryside, seascapes, moorland, villages, town and cityscapes, castles, stately homes, heritage and modern railways, old and modern roads, the list goes on.
Towns and cities have posed as London and moors have posed as Cornwall as Yorkshire has become a haven for film and TV programme makers.
No matter what your taste in TV and film, it's almost certain you will have seen many with a background of Yorkshire scenery.
Here is just a short selection of some of the region's TV locations, but there are many more famous locations which we will be adding to this page.
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One 2023 film
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny 2023 film
Locations include North Yorkshire Moors Railway at Levisham and Grosmont near Pickering
"Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One" is the seventh film of the American spy drama with Tom Cruise as its star and co-producer. It was released in the UK in July 2023.
It was filmed together with Part Two, due to be released in 2024, and included a week of location shooting in April 2021 on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway at Levisham , near Pickering . Action scenes atop a railway carriage were filmed there.
The Yorkshire location is unlikely to be clear in the film as the shoot is cut into other sequences representing action in The Alps. Other parts of the railway scenes were shot in Derbyshire and at various other locations.
If you do not recognise the railway as the North Yorkshire Moors in Mission: Impossible, then you will probably also not notice that it was a location starring in another action movie, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny", released in the UK at the end of June 2023.
There the North Yorkshire Moors Railway is given a German disguise. The Indiana Jones filming at the railway at Grosmont followed shortly after Mission: Impossible in 2021.
Happy Valley — Award-winning police drama set around West Yorkshire's Calder Valley
Locations include Hebden Bridge Sowerby Bridge Elland Halifax Huddersfield Brighouse Ripponden Todmorden Wakefield
The Happy Valley is the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire with all three series showing its fine scenery as well as some of its down-to-earth locations.
Scenes are filmed around
The first two series of this compelling police drama were shown on BBC1 in 2014 and 2016 and both series won BAFTAs. The third series was a winner at the National Television Awards.
Happy Valley has a high level of location shooting in the Calder Valley with many scenes filmed in
In the third series, Ryburn Valley High School, at Sowerby above Sowerby Bridge, features prominently.
There are scenes around flats in Elland, which is also the location of the local chemist shop, created from a nearby house. A town centre chemist was located at the Piazza Shopping Centre in Huddersfield, where there were also scenes in the town's Greenhead Park.
If you’ve Yorkshire-roots like us, you might have struggled to follow Sgt Cawood on the trail of her sister Clare that the story of episode two of the third series exposed to be a trip not to Leeds but to the fictional Sheffield prison.
The location reality is that not only did they not go to Leeds, they never went to Sheffield either. After a drop-off outside the real HM Prison Wakefield, they park up in Halifax then head on foot for a cafe that is not even in Yorkshire, but was supposed to be Sheffield. The brick buildings shown are in Bolton, Greater Manchester.
Street scenes in the series have been filmed in the Boothtown area of Halifax, in Ripponden and in Hebden Bridge. As well as Sgt Cawood's home, a shop in Hebden Bridge also features as the shop where Neil Ackroyd works and Ryan Cawood went to Hebden Bridge station to catch the train.
However the third series has another Bolton from the blue. The red rose town is not only used as a substitute for Sheffield but as a substitute for Leeds. The escape from what is supposed to be Leeds Court shows a run from a building in Le Mans Crescent, Bolton, into a shop in Deansgate, Bolton, to pick up a cycle which is then ridden straight up Vicar Lane in a small glimpse of the real Leeds. The cycle ride ends at scenic moorland which is next to Warley Moor Reservoir above the valley of Luddenden Brook.
The real names of local towns were referred to throughout the series, but sometimes with fictitious venues, particularly the prisons, named as Dewsbury Prison and Sheffield Prison.
Better — Five-part TV drama is based in Leeds
Locations include Leeds Bingley Harrogate
Among scenes are those filmed at the city station and in Crown Street, near the Corn Exchange in the city centre. A former police station at Weetwood was used as a base by production company Sister.
The by-pass around Bingley in West Yorkshire was the location of a scene where police stopped a car and there have also been scenes filmed near Harrogate in North Yorkshire, including at Plumpton Rocks on the outskirts of the town.
Scarlett's Driving School — Fly-on-the-windscreen documentary's street view tour of Tees-side
Locations include Middlesbrough Saltburn-by-the-Sea
A series of 10 episodes began on BBC 1, 2 and 3 in February 2023, providing a fly-on-the-windscreen documentary about learner drivers turning a corner in their lives with televised tuition from a driving school set up at Middlesbrough Town Hall. Safely out of the car we are treated to scenes of the area including the seaside at
Emmerdale — TV soap opera filmed in Yorkshire for more than 50 years
The fictional Yorkshire Dales village is now based at a purpose-built TV set on the estate of Harewood House in West Yorkshire while interior shots are filmed at studios in Leeds , but many other Yorkshire locations have been used over the years.
Emmerdale was first broadcast on October 16, 1972 when it was then known as Emmerdale Farm with a fictional village of Beckindale. In 1989 the programme's name changed to Emmerdale and the name of the village also became Emmerdale in 1993.
Today Emmerdale uses the purpose-built village set on the Harewood House estate, near the village of Harewood, 6 miles west-south-west of Wetherby , 7 miles north of Leeds and 7 miles south of Harrogate .
Although the set is generally closed to the public when being used for filming, it does open for pre-booked tours on selected dates. Location filming is also used in the series. Otley represents the fictional market town of Hotten, although buildings in a number of West Yorkshire towns have also been used.
In 1976 the location for exterior shots was moved to the village of Esholt , 4 miles north-north-east of Bradford and 4 miles south-south-east of Otley . When the purpose-built set at Harewood was created for use from 1997, it was based on the village of Esholt.
As well as its UK TV audience, Emmerdale has proved very popular with viewers in Ireland, Sweden, Finland, New Zealand and Australia.
Find on map:
Emmerdale film set.External websites
Emmerdale official website Harewood official website Bangers and Cash — Real-life TV stories of classic cars and auctions at a Yorkshire garage
Filmed in Thornton-le-Dale
The documentary follows classic cars and automobilia going under the hammer in a behind-the-scenes look at the family auction business of Mathewsons. Their garage is situated in the picturesque village of
The Railway Children (1970 film) , The Railway Children Return (2022)
Featuring Haworth Oakworth Oxenhope
The earliest of Yorkshire's Based on the E Nesbit novel and directed by Lionel Jeffries, The Railway Children cast included Jenny Agutter, Sally Thomsett and Gary Warren as the railway children, Dinah Sheridan as Mrs Waterbury and Bernard Cribbins as Albert Perks the station porter at Oakworth.
The film, set in 1905, extensively used the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, which was among the first preserved steam railways in the country. It also used other locations at villages along the line, including scenes at Oxenhope and the Brontë Parsonage and Main Street at Haworth.
The Railway Children is possibly the best known use of the heritage railway, but it has a long list of other film, TV and advert credits, which among many others include Yanks, Another Brick In The Wall by Pink Floyd, Brideshead Revisited, The Great Train Robbery for BBC TV in 2013, A Touch Of Frost, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and Peaky Blinders.
See also: Keighley ,
External websites
K&WVR website Gentleman Jack — Period drama based on Halifax real-life story
Locations include Halifax Huddersfield York Saltaire Luddenden Bolton Percy
The original Crow Nest, the home of Ann Walker, played by Sophie Rundle, was just over 2 miles from Shibden Hall near Hove Edge. This, however, has been long demolished and is now surrounded by a golf course. Sutton Park, at Sutton-on-the-Forest, near York posed as this location.
Other locations to feature in the series include street scenes in Halifax , Huddersfield and York . In Huddersfield, filming centred on the late-Georgian buildings in Queen Street, and also the Lawrence Batley Theatre there, originally a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel of 1819.
The eight-part second series shown in April to May 2022 also features various Yorkshire locations, including scenes filmed in York ; in Saltaire ; at Langton Hall at Langton , near Malton; at
Anne Boleyn Channel 5, 2021
Locations include Bolton Castle, Fountains Hall, East Riddlesden Hall, Emley church
Among the locations used were Bolton Castle near Redmire in Wensleydale, Fountains Abbey and Fountains Hall near Ripon in North Yorkshire and also East Riddlesden Hall near Keighley and St Michael the Archangel Church, Emley , in West Yorkshire.
The Syndicate
Locations include Hessle , Otley , Burley in Wharfedale , Ilkley , Doncaster Sheffield Airport
The three previous series of the lottery-win based drama have also been Yorkshire-based and in the fourth series, with a story based around stolen lottery winnings, the action moves from Yorkshire to Monaco.
Yorkshire locations included the Humber Bridge which spans the estuary from Hessle in the East Riding, Otley ,
Peterloo (2018)
Locations include Heptonstall , Hebden Bridge , Halifax
Calderdale district of West Yorkshire.Scenes were filmed at Heptonstall , Gibson Mill at Hardcastle Crags near
Doctor Who
Yorkshire Doctor lands in Sheffield
The 12th regeneration of The Doctor - a role which has more often been played by Scots, Londoners and Liverpudlians - is Yorkshire lass Jodie Whittaker, who was born in Skelmanthorpe , near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
Doctor Who aficionados will no doubt point out that Jodie is not quite the first Yorkshire Doctor as York-born actor David Bradley filled the shoes of the late William Hartnell to play reappearances of the first Doctor in two episodes of the 2017 series.
Last Tango In Halifax
Halifax Ripponden Sowerby Bridge Hebden Bridge Marsden Skipton Ilkley Bridlington and elsewhere
Although the drama series is centred on the Halifax of the title, it seems there has been a dance around various locations for the few outdoor scenes.
In the first episode of the new series, the supermarket featuring prominently in the storyline as Waverley's is in West Yorkshire, although some distance from Halifax. It is actually Booths supermarket in Ilkley , where the moor in the background is Ilkley Moor.
Holdsworth House hotel and Shibden Hall have been among Halifax locations used in the early series, but shooting also took place in Ripponden, Sowerby Bridge and Hebden Bridge. The Co-operative store and a pub exterior in Marsden, in the Colne Valley near Huddersfield, were also used, as was the centre of Skipton. In the two epidodes of 2016, the Shibden Mill Inn near Halifax, Hebden Bridge Co-op and an aerial view of Halifax were seen.
Yorkshire purists will, however, be disappointed to read that some of the locations used by the Manchester-based production company are actually outside Yorkshire, with locations near Altrincham and Rochdale in Greater Manchester posing as being in our region. It seems that film-makers are never happy without incredible achievements of make-believe even if they do occasionally drop a brick!
Victoria
Filmed at studios and many locations in Yorkshire
The series, produced by Mammouth Screen, have been filmed at Church Fenton Yorkshire Studios, at
Beverley Minster has doubled for Westminster Abbey, although the Diamond Jubilee statue of Queen Victoria on one of its west towers was, of course, kept out of shot. Ripon Cathedral has also been used in the series.
Harewood House, the 18th century stately country home at Harewood , has been used in scenes representing Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace, while Carlton Towers, near Carlton in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, represented Windsor Castle in the first Victoria series.
In series 3, shown in Spring 2019, Flamborough was used to represent beach scenes on the Isle of Wight.
Dracula
Scenes include Whitby
The recent BBC mini-series, created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat and shown in the New Year of 2020, however, spins off the plot into a very modern twist as Dracula arrives at Whitby.
While Whitby is clearly represented in the third episode with scenes of its abbey, very little was filmed in the town. Under the cover of darkness, a slightly characterless cemetery in Berkshire posed in place of the stimulating Yorkshire town where 199 steps lead from the harbour to the graveyard of the ancient St Mary's Church on the east cliff near the abbey.
Scarborough (2019 TV series)
Locations include Scarborough and elsewhere
"Scarborough" was created by Hull-born writer Derren Litten, previously the creator of the ITV series "Benidorm", around the day-to-day lives and loves of a handful of Scarborough characters.
Their regular pub is The Good Ship, which is actually The Newcastle Packet at Sandside near Scarborough harbour. But in a surprising twist, the location used for Geraldine's hairdressers shop, which also features prominently, was not even in Yorkshire but, sadly, in Great Underbank, a street in Stockport, Greater Manchester.
Heartbeat
Locations include Goathland and the North York Moors
Series of Heartbeat continued for 18 years, between 1992 and 2010, outspanning the 1960s on which it was based. The episodes strongly featured the songs from that decade. Its title was based on one such song, Heartbeat, a hit originally recorded by Buddy Holly in 1958 and covered by various artists during the 1960s. It was rerecorded for the show's theme tune by Nick Berry, who played its original star policeman Pc Nick Rowan.
TV and film fame has generated much tourism for the otherwise tranquil village on the edge of the North York Moors. This is still reflected today in the village's gift shops and 1960s relics to be found around Goathland, such as the old police vehicles used in Heartbeat.
Although Goathland was extensively used as the shooting location for Heartbeat, other locations used included Grosmont and Whitby .
Harry Potter
Locations include Goathland , Pickering , York and Malham
In the seventh film of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, there are scenes in the
Dad's Army (2016 film)
Famous Walmington-on-Sea in Bridlington Flamborough Beverley Pickering
The new film features a host of new stars in the roles made famous in the TV comedy series which ran to 80 episodes. The comedy, based on the Home Guard of World War II, was first shown by the BBC between 1968 and 1977. It has been so popular that episodes are still regularly repeated on TV today. There was also an earlier film, featuring the original TV cast, released in 1971.
It was only the latest film which brought Walmington-on-Sea to the East Riding of Yorkshire. The Old Town in Bridlington , representing the fictional south coast town, was one of the principal locations for the Dad's Army movie.
Sewerby Hall, a Grade I listed Georgian country house in a clifftop location at Bridlington, was another location used by the filmmakers, while coastal scenes were filmed at North Landing on the nearby Flamborough headland and at the nearby Bempton Cliffs. A church hall in the East Riding's county town of Beverley was also used, as was Pickering station on the North York Moors Railway.
See also: North York Moors Railway on our Paddington 2 (2017)
Rail chase scene ends in a Yorkshire gorge
The viaduct carried a railway line between Harrogate and Ripon which closed in 1967 and carries no more than a Greenway cycle route today. The River Nidd scenes involve much computer generated imagery in representing the train on the viaduct.
Find on map:
Nidd Viaduct Last of The Summer Wine
Locations include Holmfirth Marsden Slaithwaite
Some 31 series together with Christmas specials continued over 37 years between 1973 and 2010, with many repeats of episodes since that time.
Tourists visiting the town still head for Sid's Cafe, Nora Batty's steps, the Last of the Summer Wine Exhibition or take a scenic trip around some of the other famous locations around the valley.
Holmfirth was first famous for film-making much earlier than this. Back in the early 1900s, even before Hollywood, a local company, Bamforth & Co were behind pioneering film-making work, but later became better known for their saucy seaside postcards.
Open All Hours / Still Open All Hours
Featuring the Balby district of Doncaster
Four series of "Open All Hours", starring Ronnie Barker, were made between 1976 and 1985 and six series of "Still Open All Hours", with David Jason in the leading role, have been made since 2013. The shop featuring in all the episodes is, of course, given extra character for filming, but is located in the Balby area of Doncaster. All Creatures Great and Small
Thirsk vet TV locations include Askrigg Langthwaite Finghall Goathland Hardraw Leyburn Redmire Wensley
The real-life vet and author was Alf Wight, full name James Alfred Wight, who spent most of his working life based in the North Yorkshire town of Thirsk where there is now a museum at his original 1940s home and veterinary practice, which featured as Skeldale House, Darrowby, in his books.
The wider scenery of the Yorkshire countryside was put on show, however, when the BBC turned the books into several series of "All Creatures Great and Small" which aired on TV between 1978 and 1990, starring Christopher Timothy, Robert Hardy and Peter Davison.
Much of the location filming was done in Wensleydale. The Skeldale House of the TV series was in the village of Askrigg , where The King's Arms was The Drover's Arms of the TV series.
See also: Wensleydale Railway and North York Moors Railway on our Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Locations include Aysgarth Hardraw
Hardraw Force, at Hardraw about a mile north of Hawes in Wensleydale, was also used as a backdrop to scenes in the film. The fall, around 30 metres (100 feet) high, claims fame as "England's highest single-drop waterfall".
The Full Monty
Locations in Sheffield
The 1997 comedy film The Fully Monty, which follows the fortunes of six unemployed men as they become a male striptease act, filmed extensively in suburban Sheffield where the story of the film is set. The film won BAFTA awards for best film, best actor and best supporting actor in a year which also featured the films Titanic, Mrs Brown and LA Confidential.
Hank Zipzer
Featuring Dewsbury Halifax Bradford Wakefield Leeds
The show stars award-winning actor Henry Winkler who also co-wrote the book series which provided its inspiration with Lin Oliver.
While the school's location in the programme is intended to be London, which is revealed in a few short background shots, the actual location is the former Birkdale High School in Dewsbury (pictured). The school was also used in the third series of Hank Zipzer in 2016.
The first two series, shown in 2014 and 2015, were made at the former St Catherine's Catholic High School in Halifax, but that became the location of Ackley Bridge College in the Channel 4 school drama "Ackley Bridge".
For the Hank Zipzer film other locations in Dewsbury were used, together with Bradford ice rink, Wakefield city centre and Leeds University.
More about Dewsbury
See also: Bradford , Wakefield , Leeds , Halifax To Walk Invisible
Drama moved Haworth back in time for self-portrait
The drama tells the story of the three literary Brontë sisters through the eyes of Sally Wainwright, the writer of 'Happy Valley' and 'Last Tango In Halifax' TV series. The Brontës lived at the parsonage in Haworth and did much of their writing there.
A bit of muck on the village Main Street and some period goods in the local shops and Haworth was quickly transformed back to the early 19th century for the drama. The parsonage remains the Brontë Parsonage Museum, attracting thousands of visitors each year, and the local moorland remains as alluring today as it was to the sisters themselves.
Gold (2018 film)
Berlin Olympics filmed in Doncaster
The racecourse had swastika and olympic flags hung from it for scenes for the film "Gold", released in 2018.
The film is a dramatisation of India's first gold medal success after independence, which was at the 1948 Olympic Games in London when its hockey team took gold. The scenes shot in Doncaster were a look back to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
We continue to add more great locations from the many productions filmed in Yorkshire.