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English Counties In Films

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    English Counties In Films

    I think that there was a discussion on here a while ago about films set in specific US states, so I wondered how England would fare if we looked at films (specifically, not TV programmes) which were set in a particular county, or even if a significant chunk of the action occurred there. I struggled so went down to the qualifier of a recognisable scene. Still not much.

    I'm not a great film buff but my first thought was that an awful lot of films are either set in London or a generic urban location. My second was that the North yielded a better return than other parts of the country. The third was that a lot of the examples which sprang to mind were book adaptations, suggesting that rooting a novel in a particular location was a lot more important to writers than it was for film-makers.

    Anyway, I've gone with a list of the historic counties. Please let's not get too hung up on the precise geography of this!

    What I've got, and it's not much, is often not even that county-relevant, inasmuch as the action is centred on a location in the area rather than the area as a whole. TV dramas are a lot better in this regard but they're excluded from the list as previously stated.

    I'll add and attribute any additions to the list.

    Bedfordshire -
    Blinded by the Light (SotS)

    Berkshire - The Offence, Cemetery Junction (SotS)

    Buckinghamshire - Enigma

    Cambridgeshire - The Theory of Everything, Dean Spanley (AH), Chariots of Fire (shared with Kent) (PT), Shadowlands (PT), The Man Who Knew Infinity (AH)


    Cheshire - Millions (SotS)

    Cornwall - Rebecca, Bait (FB),
    Straw Dogs (Greenlander), Arthur Christmas, Blue Juice (Levin)

    Cumberland - Withnail and I, Porridge (WFD), The Force Awakens (WFD)

    Derbyshire - Sightseers (SZ), The Damned United (SZ), Dead Mans Shoes (Foxy)

    Devon - Lorna Doone, The Hound of the Baskervilles, War Horse, Remembrance (Greenlander), Sense and Sensibility (TR)

    Dorset - The French Lieutenant's Woman (scene), films of any Hardy novels, if we take Wessex to often be essentially Dorset, On Chesil Beach (PT)

    Co. Durham - Get Carter (shared with Northumberland), Billy Elliot

    Essex – there’s got to be something better than Essex Boys, Fish Tank (Laverte), Lawless Heart (CS)

    Gloucestershire - Hot Fuzz (SotS), Cider With Rosie (Sporting)

    Hampshire - Titanic (Rogin),
    Yesterday's Hero (VT), Watership Down (DM)

    Herefordshire - Who Dares Wins

    Hertfordshire -
    Boston Kickout (GY), Pride and Prejudice (PT), The Worlds End (SotS), Son of Rambow (Pebble)

    Huntingdonshire - Appointment in London (UE)

    Kent - David Copperfield (shared with Norfolk), MIssion: Impossible (Rogin), Murder in the Cathedral (UA), Chariots of Fire (AH), Ironclad (EG4)

    Lancashire - a few here, but it’s mainly Manchester/Liverpool, so A Taste of Honey, Letter to Brezhnev, Funny Bones, Whistle Down The Wind, East is East, 28 Days Later (FB), Northern Soul (SotS), Brief Encounter (WFD), Sing As We Go, any Wallace and Gromit film, Bhaji on the Beach (shared with Warwickshire) (FIGS)

    Leicestershire - Richard III (PT)

    Lincolnshire - The Brothers Grimsby (PT),
    Memphis Belle (JWDD27), The Dambusters (SnS)

    Middlesex - London, innit

    Norfolk - David Copperfield,
    Alpha Papa (Levin), The Eagle Has Landed (Levin)

    Northamptonshire - Kinky Boots

    Northumberland - Get Carter,
    Sorry We Missed You (FB), I, Daniel Blake (WFD)

    Nottinghamshire - surprisingly, my winner, with This is England, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, various films of DH Lawrence novels and as many Robin Hood films as you could shake a stick at, Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (Levin), A Room for Romeo Brass (SnS), The Loneliness of The Long Distance Runner (Guy)

    Oxfordshire - The Riot Club (SZ), The Remains of the Day (PT)

    Rutland - All You Need Is Cash (SZ)

    Shropshire - Gone To Earth (PT)

    Somerset -
    The Festival (Rogin)

    Staffordshire - The Card (GO)

    Suffolk -
    The Witchfinder General (GY), Akenfield (Mumpo), The Dig (Levin)

    Surrey - right, I’m going to indulge myself, so Hope and Glory, set a stone’s throw from where I was born, the 1953 version of The War of the Worlds, Emma, the entire Harry Potter series and the iconic Guildford Cathedral scene from The Omen. I don’t feel that I can add the opening scene from Gladiator, much as I’d like to. Winstanley (GY)

    Sussex - Wish You Were Here, Brighton Rock, Quadrophenia, The Black Windmill, Winnie-the-Pooh films,
    Byzantium (Levin)

    Warwickshire - Gnomeo and Juliet (SZ), Lady Godiva (EG4), Nativity! (SotS), Locke (Levin), Take Me High (George), Bhaji on the Beach (FIGS)

    Westmoreland - Swallows and Amazons (WFD)

    Wiltshire -
    The Draughtsman's Contract (Levin)

    Worcestershire - Creation (PT)

    Yorkshire - Kes, The Full Monty, The History Boys, various Bronte book adaptations, When Saturday Comes (GY), Brassed Off (FB), The Selfish Giant (FB), The Navigators (FB), God's Own Country (FB), All Creatures Great and Small (Capybara), It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet, Hadersfild (MOF), Billy Liar (WFD), Threads (WFD), Rita Sue & Bob Too (WFD), Four Lions (SotS)



    OK, what have you got OTF?
    Last edited by Nocturnal Submission; 03-02-2021, 21:37.

    #2
    Lincolnshire - The Brothers Grimsby

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      #3
      Shropshire - Gone to Earth (based on the book by Mary Webb)

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        #4
        Wasn't Withnail And I Westmorland?

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          #5
          Staffordshire - The Card

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            #6
            For Kent you could also have the end of Mission:Impossible, the bit on the Eurostar with the helicopter.
            Last edited by Rogin the Armchair fan; 01-02-2021, 16:14.

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              #7
              For Somerset, any film ever set around Glastonbury (there must have been at least one).

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                #8
                And similarly for Wiltshire, there must have been something set around Stonehenge. You can have Spinal Tap if nothing else.

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                  #9
                  Hampshire - Titanic (sailed from)

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                    #10
                    Slightly more highbrow choice for Kent (they would appreciate it) - any version of Elliot's Murder in the Cathedral

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                      #11
                      Swallows and Amazons would account for Cumberland if Withnail and I is actually Westmorland.

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                        #12
                        Derbyshire - bits of Sightseers and The Damned United

                        Oxfordshire - probably lots of films set around the university - The Riot Club and the Tolkien biopic from a couple of years ago come to mind

                        Rutland - All You Need Is Cash

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                          #13
                          As Bosworth Field is in Leicestershire the film version of Richard III would probably count.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Gangster Octopus View Post
                            Wasn't Withnail And I Westmorland?
                            https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion...gann-locations

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Gangster Octopus View Post
                              Staffordshire - The Card
                              Presumably that Sean Bean film too. You know, When Saturday Comes.

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                                #16
                                For Surrey, I nominate Winstanley, set a few miles from my childhood home. Not sure it was actually shot there though.

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                                  #17
                                  Suffolk - The Witchfinder General

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                                    #18
                                    Originally posted by Ginger Yellow View Post
                                    For Surrey, I nominate Winstanley, set a few miles from my childhood home. Not sure it was actually shot there though.
                                    Looks as if it was. They had to move a barn from Essex.

                                    https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/01...leyPK.pdf?1010

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                                      #19
                                      Originally posted by Gangster Octopus View Post
                                      Wasn't Withnail And I Westmorland?

                                      The chaps were staying just outside Penrith, apparently.

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                                        #20
                                        Part of the video to The Wurzels' Down In Nempnett Thrubwell was filmed in Somerset.

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                                          #21
                                          Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fan View Post
                                          And similarly for Wiltshire, there must have been something set around Stonehenge. You can have Spinal Tap if nothing else.

                                          Hmmmmm, I'm taking a very relaxed attitude to the selections, but that really is pushing it!

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                                            #22
                                            Originally posted by Ginger Yellow View Post
                                            Presumably that Sean Bean film too. You know, When Saturday Comes.

                                            Think that's another one for Yorkshire.

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                                              #23
                                              Oh, right, I was thinking it was Stoke for some reason.

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                                                #24
                                                Hertfordshire - Boston Kickout

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                                                  #25
                                                  Historic counties can get to fuck, why not use Anglo-Saxon kingdoms while you're at it.

                                                  Anyway Bait is another one for Cornwall. Shedloads for Yorkshire, off the top of my head: Brassed Off, The Selfish Giant, The Navigators, God's Own Country.

                                                  Sorry We Missed You is Bernicia Northumbria Northumberland I guess *eyeroll emoji*

                                                  28 Days Later for both Middlesex and Lancashire.

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