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Dorset Film & TV Locations

Dorset has been the star of many a film and TV drama and it's no surprise, with the unspoilt countryside, dramatic coastline and many impressive manor houses and gardens all offering a beautiful setting to really bring the script to life.

Dorset is Thomas Hardy's Wessex and with much of the landscape remaining unchanged it has been the location for many adapatations of his famous novels. West Dorset and Purbeck have provided locations for the 1967 classic 'Far From The Madding Crowd', 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'  for the BBC starring Gemma Atherson and ITV's 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' starring Ciaran Hinds.

Some lavish productions of Jane Austen's novels have also found a home here.  Johnny Lee Miller and Embeth Davidtz starred in 'Mansfield Park' set in Purbeck and the major film adaptation of 'Emma', starring Greta Scacchi and Gwyneth Paltrow was filmed in Evershot and Dorchester.  Her classic love story, 'Persuasion', was filmed in Lyme Regis with Rupert Penry-Jones playing Captain Frederick Wentworth.

Lyme Regis was the home of author John Fowles and the 1980 film adaptation of his classic novel 'The French Lieutenant's Woman' was filmed locally with a cloaked Meryl Streep famously standing on the Cobb Harbour.

It’s not only period dramas that are filmed here either.   Purbeck was used for ‘Nanny McPhee’ with Emma Thompson and Colin Firth. Weymouth has seen a variety of stars on its beach including the cast of EastEnders and the presenters from CBeebies!  Portland Harbour is the location for the latest British film directed by Richard Curtis ‘The Boat that Rocked’ starring Rhys Ifans and Bill Nighy. 

And not forgetting the local produce that Dorset is renowned for, many top chefs including Gordon Ramsay, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Lesley Waters have been filmed cooking delicious local food all over the area.