When you visit Northumbria and get to see the stunning landscapes and backdrops to sea and land its comes as no surprise that location scouts have a wealth of places to choose from and in many ways are spoilt for choice.
When I first discovered Bamburgh in 1996 I had this very strange feeling as I stood on the beach that I had been there before but couldn’t understand why as I knew it was my first visit. It was only by chance a few months later I stumbled across the first ever episode of Robin of Sherwood that I saw the exact same place used in the one of the opening scenes of the much loved 1980’s TV drama. Alnwick castle was also used in the 2 further seasons of the same programme.
In more recent times Alnwick castle and Bamburgh were heavily featured in the Transformers- The Last Knight movie as well as the Downton Abbey movie. Most famously it was used for the flying school sequences in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone where the Hogwarts students picked up a broomstick for the first time and flew round the courtyard and battlements.
Further afield, Hadrian’s Wall and Sycamore Gap were used in the Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman movie Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves and as a result fans travel for miles to take photos of Sycamore Gap which must make single tree one of the most photographed in the country,
ITV’s long running drama series Vera takes full advantage of the beautiful land and seascapes and filming takes pace up and down the coastline as far as Lindisfarne taking in Amble, Embleton and Tynemouth then going into Newcastle city and filming on the Tyne River.
The Railwayman with Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman was filmed in Berwick and Blackadder with Rowan Atkinson was also filmed at Alnwick Castle along with Elizabeth staring Cate Blanchett.
Lastly, The Last Kingdom was filmed on the beach at Bamburgh in season 2 with Uhtred being rescued from the slave ship and returned to his family by his loyal group of friends and fighters.
I am sure there are far more I could mention and know that this summer the Lloyds Bank advert was shot at Beadnell with the famous black horse galloping along the open stretch of beach at the end. What a lovely image to finish on.
