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SPOTTER'S GUIDE TO TV LOCATIONS
ONLY Fools And Horses fans are horrified at the news that Nelson Mandela House is being knocked down so luxury flats can be built.
As we revealed yesterday, Harlech Tower in west London, Del Boy and Rodney’s home, will soon be demolished.
But there are lots of other real-life TV locations in the UK to visit. NADINE LINGE
checks them out… DOWNTON ABBEY – Highclere Castle While the fictional home of the posh Crawley family is in Yorkshire, the real-life Abbey is Highclere Castle in Hampshire.
It will be seen again on screen later this year with the release of the Downton Abbey film in September.
Highclere is home to the 8th Earl and Countess of Carnarvon but is open for public visits.
POLDARK – Chavenage in Tetbury, Glos
A 16th-century manor house, Chavenage doubles for Poldark’s Cornwall family home of Trenwith.
And owner Caroline Lowsley-Williams is seeing the benefit of a famous TV show – enjoying a 50% rise in visitors since the show started. Initially, however, the real location was top-secret.
Caroline says: “For the first two years, we weren’t allowed to reveal that Chavenage was the house, as the production company wanted to maintain the mystique that everything was shot in Cornwall.”
CALL THE MIDWIFE – Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent
Due to east London becoming more modern, the outdoor scenes set in Poplar are filmed in Chatham, thanks to the Historic Dockyard’s 100 Georgian and Victorian buildings.
And while the original location for Nonnatus House was St Joseph’s Missionary College in Mill Hill, north London, producers were forced to hastily move in 2013.
Just like Only Fools’ Harlech Tower, it was sold for luxury flats. Now scenes at Nonnatus House are actually shot at a film studio in Surrey. GAME OF THRONES – Northern Ireland With the final series hitting screens this year, there’s never been a better time to check out the Starks’
Winterfell home – Castle Ward in Co Down – or the Greyjoys’ Pyke fortress, the medieval Dunluce Castle in Co Antrim.
Fans can also visit the desolate seven-mile beach at Downhill Strand in Co Londonderry which doubles as Dragonstone – where Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen met in the last series.
DOC MARTIN – Port Isaac, Cornwall
While the grumpy medic administers his services in the fictional town Port Wenn, the ITV show, which returns this year, is actually filmed in Port Isaac on the northern tip of Cornwall. The picturesque fishing village is worth a visit, even if you’re not a fan of the show.
PEAKY BLINDERS – Toxteth, Liverpool
Despite being set in Birmingham, the BBC gangster drama is mostly filmed further north.
Watery Lane, home of the Shelbys’ HQ and betting office, is actually Powis Street in Toxteth, Liverpool, while Victoria Baths, Manchester, was the setting for the horse fair in the second series.
All four series have also filmed at the Black Country Museum in Dudley, West Mids, which doubles as Charlie Strong’s Yard among other locations.
They’re plonkers: Page 17