Filming In Cornwall
15 May 2024
Cornwall is such a picturesque county it’s not surprising that many a film and TV production company have chosen to film here. There’s the recent film success of Fisherman’s Friends, based on a real life singing group from Port Isaac. Of course who could forget James Bond sliding down the biomes at the Eden Project and we can also go way back in 1939 when Hitchcock’s Jamaica Inn was filmed on Bodmin Moor.
One film that made the most of our varied landscape was 1979’s Dracula with Laurence Olivier. The film may have been set in wilds of Yorkshire but it was our landscape that provided the ambiance. With the Camelot Castle Hotel in Tintagel, the fishing village of Mevagissey and the felicitous island castle of St Micheal’s Mount featuring on screen.
A few of the tours we offer take in the ’set’ of much-loved TV series, like the recent adaptation of Winston Graham’s novels Poldark. We guide you through Poldark’s Cornwall, touring the mining landscape and the stunning coastline around Lands End and St Just. We also visit the locations of the 1970s version around Port Quin, explore atmospheric Bodmin Moor and of course the ever popular harbour of Charlestown. Many films have utilised this historic place, with its tall ships and battered sea walls. Today of course it’s a foodie haven with plenty of pubs to hunker down in and shelter from the elements. The Shipwreck museum here provides artefacts hinting at Cornwall’s wild past.
Another really popular series was ITV’s Doc Martin. The grumpy doctor made his home in the fictional village of PortWenn which is actually the stunning Port Isaac nestled on the North Cornish coast. The area around here is breathtaking, our tour takes in King Arthur’s Tintagel as well as the popular surfing beach of Polzeath.
Currently on our screens is the BBC’s Beyond Paradise which although set in a fictional Devonshire town borrows some of our coastline. The cast and crew hop over the Tamar river to capture some of Looe’s stunning scenery.
Cornwall Discovery Tours are perfectly placed as Barry Pengelly, proprietor and guide, has worked as transport for many productions in the southwest, including Poldark, Playing Nice (set to be broadcast later this on ITVX) and Fisherman’s Friend’s 1 and 2. So for the inside scoop make sure to book your tour with us!
Now, for something a little more random, you may remember the 1980s TV show from The Muppets creator Jim Henson, Fraggle Rock? Well this series was actually set at St Mawes with St Anthony’s lighthouse featuring in the title sequence.
Hollywood’s big hitters have also flocked to our shores, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was filmed in the grand National Trust-owned Antony House at Torpoint. For something a little more apocalyptic we have World War Z. Falmouth was the backdrop for zombies to descend in the 2011’s action flic with Brad Pitt.
Very popular with our German visitors are the adaptations of Rosamunde Pilcher’s novels. Born and bread in Cornwall, though she lived most her adult life in Scotland. Not as well known in this country perhaps as Germany where her stories were a Sunday night telly fixture, featuring stunning locations from the Lizard to Penzance and Lands’ End to Padstow.
It really is such a varied landscape so it’s not hard to see how Cornwall can capture the imagination, providing the perfect backdrop to a much-needed bit of escapism. If you fancy touring this star of the silver screen, take a look at our tour page and see which might be right for you. Popcorn at the ready, here we go.
