From Holyrood to Hollywood... how Edinburgh landed £10m starring role
IT has long provided a backdrop for an array of TV shows and movies, including classics such as The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. And it’s clear the fortunes of Edinburgh as a filming location have gone from strength to strength with new figures showing the capital raked in more than £10million last year.
More than 200 movies, shows and documentaries were shot in and around the city in 2023 starring the likes of Hollywood star Samuel L Jackson plus home-grown talents Martin Compston and Peter Mullan. The second series of Amazon supernatural thriller The Rig, award-winning historical drama The Crown and Ian
Rankin’s Rebus were among the television series filmed in the city while crime drama Damaged, starring Jackson, and dark comedy The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford featuring Mullan also shot scenes in Edinburgh.
A number of Bollywood productions, TV documentaries and talent shows such as Strictly Come Dancing and Britain’s Got Talent also visited the capital.
And the FirstStage Studios complex in Leith Docks had its fair share of film and TV work over the course of the 12 months including The Rig which spent 85 days filming at the studio.
Officials say there is no doubt the shows boosted the city’s fortunes with 202 different productions filmed last year worth £10.8million to the economy.
Film Edinburgh’s senior film officer Rosie Ellison said: ‘The long-lasting benefits of filming in the city extend beyond the direct investment of a film production into the local economy, to the onscreen promotion of the city to local, regional, UK and worldwide audiences, with recognised positive impacts for the tourism and hospitality industry.’
Val Walker, the council’s culture convener, added: ‘The north of the city has seen a revitalisation with the presence of FirstStage Studios in Leith, which is transforming our ability to host large-scale productions.’
The TV return of Rebus has seen Outlander’s Richard Rankin take on the title role.
Pulp Fiction star Jackson was in the country last spring for serial killing feature Damaged which was released last month. He plays Chicagobased detective Dan Lawson who is contacted by the Scottish authorities to investigate a series of murders.
Mullan stars in The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford as a visitor centre tour guide dressed up as the town’s most notable 18th century figure Sir Douglas.
It is the debut feature by Edinburgh-born filmmaker Sean Dunn and is among the British productions showcased in Cannes this month.
And the draw of Auld Reekie shows no sign of slowing with a star-studded cast filming a major new Netflix crime series in Edinburgh this year.
Kelly Macdonald, Shirley Henderson and Mark Bonnar are among the Scots actors who will appear in Department Q, a new fictional ‘cold case’ unit in the city.
‘Long-lasting benefits’ ‘City has seen a revitalisation’