Yahoo News Five County Durham locations used in films and TV that are worth a visit
For anyone who lives in County Durham - it's fair to say there is no shortage of picturesque locations and brilliant landmarks along the way.
And it's fair to say that the film and TV crews and producers feel the same - with numerous high-profile productions using the region as a backdrop for the whole of, or part of, a film or TV episode.
While programmes like Vera have almost exclusively used the North East as their backdrop during every series, some big productions like Harry Potter and The Avengers have also chosen to follow suit and use the beaches, city-scape or landmarks of County Durham.
As part of this, we have pieced together five locations that TV and films have used in County Durham that you can visit to see where the magic happened, or even recreate your favourite scenes at the locations.
Five County Durham locations used within films and TV:
Get Carter (1971) - Blackhall Rocks
As a gritty crime film, some of Get Carter was filmed in Blackhall Rocks - with producers said to like the industrial-looking Blackhall; favouring it over other places in the UK.
Despite no longer being the industrial location it once was, Blackhall Rocks still experiences a lot of visitors from the film Get Carter.
The film follows the life of Jack Carter (Michael Caine) on his quest to find the truth behind his brother’s death.
Alongside using Blackhall Rocks, Dryderdale Hall, near Hamsterley Forest, was also used in Get Carter.
Harry Potter (2001)
This might be an obvious one - especially if you've visited Durham Cathedral before and will see where each part of the early films in the Harry Potter franchise was filmed.
But back in 2001, the Hollywood production team took over the Cathedral to turn it into the magical world of Harry Potter and was the backdrop for several exterior shots for Hogwarts School in The Philosopher's Stone (2001), and The Chamber of Secrets (2002).
If you look in several places in both films you will see that Ron's slug vomiting and several scenes involving Professor McGonagall's classroom were filmed in Durham.
1917 (2020)
With its picturesque locations and sprawling landscapes, it's no surprise to hear that several war films have used County Durham.
Among them is the successful war film 1917, which captures one particular group of soldiers and their struggle in the First World War.
While a lot of the film was filmed in the UK and other countries, the production team descended on the Raby Estate in Teesdale, which saw them use the Low Force Waterfall to capture the river escape of British soldier Will Schofield.
In the film, the River Tees is featured several times.
Downton Abbey The Movie (2019)
It wouldn't be a list of County Durham landmarks used in the filming of TV and films without putting Beamish Museum on the list.
Used for numerous BBC and ITV programmes, the popular attraction has also been featured on the silver screen.
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Back in 2019, hundreds of crew, cast and museum staff descended on Beamish to film the Downtown Abbey movie.
The landmark was featured in several key shots in the film - with some pointing out how familiar it was, before realising that it was the historic site of Beamish.
Vera (2011-2024)
Finally, we mentioned Vera above - but, given that Brenda Blethyn as Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope announced that she would be stepping down after the 14th series - we just had to include it.
As far as Vera filming goes - it's almost exclusively filmed in the North East - with the riverbanks at Durham City, Citrone Café in Front Street, Chester-Le-Street, Peterlee’s Apollo Pavilion and Blast Beach, Seaham all being used - as well as Gateshead, Hexham, and the wider Northumberland region also being used.
