Top TV settings of 2014 – as voted by Radio Times readers

The Bridge, Jamaica Inn, Doctor Who, Sherlock, Vera, Fargo and more – find out who came number one in our TV locations poll, and how to visit for real...

By Jade Bremner

30 December 2014 

The RadioTimes

Which stunning TV settings topped all others last year? Read on to find out the top 10 backdrops of 2014...

6. London – the setting of Sherlock

London is a key element of both Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories and the BBC1 hit series, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman (above). It’s easy to visit the capital’s Sherlock settings…

MUST SEE

221B Baker Street

The exterior of Holmes and Watson’s flat (as seen in all three series) is actually shot in a quieter road 25 minutes’ walk from Baker Street. Find it at 187 North Gower Street, NW1 2NJ.

The Sherlock Holmes Museum

Between numbers 237 and 241 Baker Street (but numbered 221B by permission of the City of Westminster), this Grade II-listed building is devoted to the detective. Inside, fans will find a re-creation of Sherlock’s sitting room.

4. Cornwall – the setting of Jamaica Inn 

Based on Daphne du Maurier’s acclaimed novel, and filmed in the same area of Cornwall that inspired the original story, the BBC1 adaptation of Jamaica Inn, starring Jessica Brown Findlay and Sean Harris, was one of the most talked-about dramas of the year. 

The magnificent countryside brings the story to life, and takes us back to this mesmerising world of smugglers, violence and sex. “Cornish locations are essential to the drama,” explains series writer Emma Frost. In the name of research, Frost stayed in a yurt on Bodmin Moor in the rain for three days, near the incredible Roughtor stone structure on the hill. 

“I climbed Roughtor right to the top and did what Mary Yellen would have done and looked at the vegetation and granite rock… the end of the final sequence was filmed right here. You can see for miles and miles around.”

MUST SEE

The Cheesewring and Hurlers, Bodmin Moor

“The Hurlers are kind of like tombstones,” says Frost. “They are  as tall as a man and you can hide behind them. The Cheesewring looks like a pile of stone bagels!” The Jamaica Inn crew filmed at both locations, and captured vastly different landscapes. “What’s amazing about Bodmin Moor is that you move half a mile in any direction and the colours change completely. One minute you’re at the tor, the next minute you’re in this scrubby heather and the next it’s thick grass. 

“Bodmin Moor is extraordinary. You can see for miles and watch the clouds go across the sun and you get these big purple patches of shadow on the land as they move across. It’s glorious – it makes you feel like this tiny, tiny unimportant speck.”

Holywell Bay, Newquay

All the smuggling scenes from the series were filmed at this quiet, pretty little cove, as well as the sea and caves around Newquay. “It was  a really tough shoot,” explains Frost. “It was bitterly cold, and the cast were in the sea all week long… Some of them used wetsuits [under their costumes], but I know Sean Harris didn’t; he’s method and wanted to feel what it would have felt like. He got very cold."

3. Northern Ireland – The setting of Game of Thrones

After the shocking finale of the fourth season last spring, the fifth series of the sex and violence-soaked fantasy will return to Sky Atlantic around Easter. The show has filmed in Croatia, Morocco, Iceland and Spain, but mainly Northern Ireland, which doubles for Winterfell, King’s Landing and Pyke in the series. 

MUST SEE

Ballintoy Harbour, Antrim 

Transformed into the medieval-style fishing port of Lordsport on the island of Pyke in Iron Islands, Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen, below) docked here before making the journey to see his father in series two. After years apart, his sister Yara turned up to meet him without identifying herself and it all got a bit awkward on the scenic journey to the castle. In real life, though, this is a magnificent spot (left); the water is opaque, fishermen sell the day’s catch from their boats and nearby, White Park Bay, a three-mile long sandy beach, is a lovely place for a walk.

Larrybane, Antrim

Brienne of Tarth beat Ser Loras Tyrell in a tournament at this striking amphitheatre-type space in season two. This beautiful headland with its white limestone cliffs also doubles as Renly Baratheon’s camp. “It’s surrounded by beautiful chalky cliffs with a gorgeous view of the ocean below,” says series location manager Robbie Boake. “There are stunning views out to sea.”

Read about the rest at the source