Behind the scenes

© BritBox, Sony Pictures Television, Fable Pictures, UKTV // Photo Nicola Young BritBox UKTV

Eight years in development. One of Britain’s most recognisable stories. And it was filmed on location across the West Midlands and Staffordshire – in a Dudley manor house, a Stafford civic hall, and the canal-side streets of Birmingham’s Digbeth.

© Apple TV, A+E Studios, Range Studios

Fresh off three Emmy wins for Adolescence, Stephen Graham is turning up the creep factor as a serial killer in Nocturne – Apple TV+’s new crime drama filmed entirely across the Pittsburgh region of western Pennsylvania. Principal photography ran from July 21 to December 19, 2025, under the working title Parallax.

© Apple TV, New Pictures, Observatory Pictures

Hugh Laurie is back. Not as a genius diagnostician this time, but as a crime boss on the run – and he filmed part of the series inside the Victorian prison in Reading where Oscar Wilde served two years of hard labour. Principal photography began in the UK in May 2025 and ran through December 2025.

© CBS Studios, King Size Productions

Cupertino premieres on CBS on Thursday October 8, 2026 – joining the rarified list of California cities including Beverly Hills, San Francisco and Santa Barbara that have given their names to TV shows. The series is set in Cupertino, Silicon Valley. But all filming locations identified through production notices, filming permits, local news reports and the trailer have been in New Jersey.

© BBC Film, Blue House Productions, Apple TV+

Mackenzie Crook made Detectorists in the fields of Essex. He made it quietly, precisely and with complete attention to the specific character of a particular place. For Small Prophets – his BBC Two and Apple TV+ comedy about a suburban man who attempts to create magical prophesying spirits in his garden shed – he went to Greater Manchester. Specifically Urmston.

© Amazon MGM Studios // Photo Clay Enos 

Arnold Schwarzenegger is Santa Claus. Alan Ritchson is a charming thief fresh out of prison. And the greatest heist in the history of Christmas was filmed entirely in New York City – from Fifth Avenue to Central Park to a beloved East Village Ukrainian diner. Principal photography ran from December 13, 2024 to March 20, 2025.

© A24, Annapurna Pictures, FilmNation Entertainment

Olivia Wilde made Booksmart. Then Don't Worry Darling. Now she has made a dinner party dark comedy in 23 shooting days across San Francisco and Los Angeles, with Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton at the table.

© Apple Studios, wiip

A fugitive CIA agent accused of killing a high-ranking officer. The victim's widow investigating from the other side. A global conspiracy uncovering itself through the streets of Spain. Safe Houses is Apple TV+'s new spy thriller – and it went to considerable lengths to build its world on real Spanish streets.

© Amazon Prime Video, Steel Springs Pictures

Filming began in March 2025 across four countries. Bilbao and the Basque Country, Lisbon, London and Swansea were the four locations – the last of which carries particular personal weight. "The most poignant moment for me was walking down the streets of Swansea, not just as Jackie, but as me," Catherine Zeta-Jones told Wales Online. "Going home to a place that I love, doing what I love to do. That was very, very special."

© HBO

She left in disgrace. She comes back to a case that never closed. And the city she returns to is Toruń – which plays itself. The Torment – original Polish title Zmora – is a three-episode HBO Original Series based on the crime novel by Robert Małecki – one of Poland's most popular crime writers and former journalist.

© DC Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures

Liverpool has now hosted three consecutive DC productions under James Gunn's new DCU. The Batman used it for Gotham. The Batman: Part II is using it for Gotham. And in the summer of 2025, Clayface arrived in Derby Square, the Pier Head and the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall with a map of Gotham City and a working title – Corinthians – that told the locals precisely nothing.

© Disney+, Marvel Studios

By the start of VisionQuest, Vision has been disguising himself as a human and working at a pub for years. That premise – Marvel's most philosophical android hiding behind a bar in an English village dressed as Scotland – sets up an unusual location choices in the MCU's history. The pub was real. The village was real. The Scottish flag was not.