How TV’S Marcella hiked house prices
Values rise in Lisburn area after detective drama is filmed there
IT might have been the fictional home of an inhospitable criminal family in the ITV drama Marcella, but could the Larchfield Estate outside Lisburn have led to a property spike in the area?
According to new data, prices in Lisburn rose by 1.77% during lockdown last year — 20% higher than its neighbour Dunmurry.
House prices in the city now average £151,108.
Research by online mortgage broker Trussle revealed house prices in locations of popular television shows rose by an average of 5% in 2020, compared to nearby towns.
And series three of Marcella, starring Anna Friel and a strong local cast, features in the top 10 television locations across the UK, with Lisburn having experienced a spike in prices.
The most recent series was filmed between March and July 2019 and Larchfield House and Estate was the main location.
Most of the action centred on the period building, home to the murderous Maguires. Headed by matriarch Katherine, played by Amanda Burton, the clan was infiltrated by Marcella (Friel), who went undercover as Keira Devlin.
Series location manager Chris Myers said Larchfield House was ideal for the shoot as it was “large enough to suggest the status of our story’s resident family but not so daunting in scale as to be unimaginable as a home”.
While the family’s dark behaviours might have shocked many viewers, it seems the beauty of the area still appealed.
Coming in at fourth place in the top 10 of drama locations that have helped spark a property boom is ITV police drama The Bay, written by Co Armagh man Daragh Carville.
Property prices in the coastal Lancashire town of Morecambe rose by 6.28% — a jump of 108% on nearby Scale Hall. House prices now average £234,106.
Earlier this year property website Rightmove revealed searches for homes in Morecambe surged by 71% in just one week, coinciding with the airing of season two of The Bay.
The adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People is also being credited for a rise in property prices in Co Sligo. Sharing joint final place in the list with Marcella, the location used in Normal People for much of the shoot also saw a rise of 1.77% — 20% more than neighbouring Leitrim.
Topping the list of television locations that have inspired househunters is Dunlop in East Ayrshire, set of ITV drama Deadwater Fell. Dunlop saw an increase of 9.5% in property prices in 2020, more than double that of nearby East Kilbride.
Other locations to make the list include Beaconsfield for Afterlife, Sutton Hoo for The Dig, and Richmond-upon-thames for Bridgerton, which saw prices rise by 5.35% to an average of £903,122.
Miles Robinson of Trussle said: “The last year has seen a big shift in homeowner priorities.
“Searches for properties in small towns and villages doubled as city dwellers opted for countryside living.
“Increased time spent indoors led to one in seven adults considering a move to a home with more space and it seems our favourite TV programmes are inspiring us too, becoming much more than an ‘escape from reality’.”
Drama locations influenced property hikes before the pandemic too. Shows such as Poldark and Doc Martin saw more people want to relocate to Cornwall, while the Broadchurch effect resulted in property prices shooting up in West Bay, Dorset.