10 TV series’ and movies filmed in #perfectcheshire

This week, Chester Zoo is back on our TV screens in Channel 4’s ‘The Secret Life of the Zoo’. With this in mind, we are taking a look back at the top 10 TV series’ and movies filmed in Cheshire. It isn’t difficult to see why Cheshire’s stately homes, beautiful gardens and picturesque villages are the location of choice for the below… some may surprise you!

1. Peaky Blinders – In November 2015, Cheshire’s Arley Hall & Gardens set the scene for Birmingham gangster, Thomas Shelby and co. in the filming of Peaky Blinders season three. Arley Hall is the picture-perfect, Grade II listed stately home acting as the new Shelby family dwellings as they move up in the world. In 2014, scenes were also filmed at the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port.

2. Paranoid – ITV’s Thursday night conspiracy-thriller, Paranoid, tells the story of a female GP murdered in a fictional Cheshire village. In the second episode of this gripping series, a detective is pushed from the top of Anderton Boat Lift in Northwich. Although the Boat Lift has featured on the box in the past, this is by far the most dramatic and memorable scene to have been filmed here.

3. Cold Feet (Season 6) – 2016 saw the return of the beloved nineties comedy drama Cold Feet. After a 13 year hiatus, the new season kicked off with the wedding of Adam (James Nesbitt) and Angela whom he had met in Singapore. The location for the wedding – none other than Cheshire’s spectacular Peckforton Castle. This is not the first time the castle has seen a few famous faces having previously hosted the Real Housewives of Cheshire and American singer Ciara.

4. The Secret Life of the Zoo – As the title suggests, this Channel 4 documentary captures the lives of zoo animals, exploring their behaviour and relationship with the keepers. Filming takes place at Chester Zoo, the number one zoo in the UK, telling different stories every week. The show is back this Thursday 17th November at 8pm after an extremely successful and popular first series which aired at the start of the year to an audience of 4 million!

5. The Mill – In 2013, Channel 4 period drama The Mill first appeared on our screens telling the story of textile mill workers in 1830’s Britain during the Industrial Revolution. Not only did the show take inspiration from the archives at Quarry Bank Mill in Styal but, it was also filmed there! At present, the kitchen garden and glasshouse are undergoing major restoration to revert back to its former glory.

6. The Awakening – Cheshire’s Lyme Park is the location for 2011 British horror ‘The Awakening’ starring Rebecca Hall (The Town) and Dominic West (The Wire). In the paranormal spook-fest, Lyme Park acts as a haunted boarding school for boys standing against an eerie backdrop of grey skies and fog. In key scenes, Rebecca and Dominic are filmed at ‘The Cage’ which doubles as a church in the film.

7. Home Fires – Set and filmed in the quaint village of Bunbury, Cheshire, Home Fires is the 1940’s period drama which first aired on ITV in May 2015. The drama follows a group of inspirational women in a rural Cheshire community with the shadow of World War II casting a dark cloud over their lives. Scenes were also filmed on Tarporley High Street and at Chester Town Hall in the city centre.

8. Evermoor – Disney’s Evermoor is one for the kids; a TV series about an American teen adjusting to life with her step-family in the English village of ‘Evermoor’. Prior to the 2014 premiere, many scenes were filmed in the grounds of Arley Hall & Gardens; a perfect backdrop for the magic and mysterious happenings in the show.

9. The Village – The Village is a six part BBC1 drama documenting the trials and tribulations of life during the First World War. In the second and final series, the cast came to Lyme Park for filming. This isn’t a surprise considering the success of BBC’s Pride & Prejudice famed for the iconic scene where Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy emerged from the lake at the Lyme Estate.

10. Our Zoo – The BBC production ‘Our Zoo’ tells the real story of Chester Zoo during its inception in the 1930’s. However, the series is not filmed at the actual Chester Zoo. Instead, many scenes were filmed at Walton Hall & Gardens in Warrington which is more representative of how the Zoo used to look. The grounds of Walton Hall were even transformed into a penguin enclosure and aviary especially for filming!