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?
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?
Comment