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Like swapping your sofa for a stroll through the sights and sounds of an iconic location, you could trade online slots and casino sites at home for the buzz of a real-life casino. Where the atmosphere, just like your favourite series, is best experienced in person.
But which towns and cities can be crowned the UK’s TV show capitals? We’ve dived into the data, looking at review scores from audiences and critics and Google searches for famous locations. We’ve also looked at the average hotel cost in each area if you want to visit these locations.
The UK’s TV show capitals
Dudley - TV Show Tourism Score of 9.42/10
Dudley tops the UK’s TV show capital list, scoring 9.42 out of 10. The town scored relatively well across the board, placing second for the average Rotten Tomatoes audience score for TV shows using the location, at 94%. It also placed fourth for its average IMDb score, 8.7 out of 10.
In the BBC’s Peaky Blinders, the town’s Black Country Living Museum played a central role, doubling for the gritty industrial backstreets of 1920s Birmingham. The museum also holds events themed around the show, so you can fully immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the iconic series.
Dunstable - TV Show Tourism Score of 8.78/10
Next up is Dunstable. The Bedfordshire town has the second-highest average Rotten Tomatoes critic score across TV shows filmed in the location (88%). It’s also in the top three cheapest film locations, at £66 per night for a three-star hotel.
It’s also been confirmed that a bowling alley in the town will feature in season six of Apple TV’s Slow Horses, transformed into a casino.
Ellesmere Port - TV Show Tourism Score of 8.75/10
Rounding out the top three is Ellesmere Port. The Cheshire town shares the second-highest average Rotten Tomatoes audience score with Dudley (94%). It’s also one of the cheapest locations, with the average three-star hotel costing £68 a night.
In addition to doubling for Camden Lock in Peaky Blinders, the town’s National Waterways Museum will also feature in the upcoming Netflix drama House of Guinness, written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.
The UK cities and counties with the most TV show locations
Unsurprisingly, the UK’s largest towns and cities like London and Manchester have the highest number of TV show locations on the list, while smaller areas are lacking. London ranks top with 1,571 shows, including the recently launched MobLand from Paramount+. The show's opening shootout was filmed in the historic St Pancras Renaissance Hotel.
Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire, and West Yorkshire are the counties with the most filming locations, with Greater Manchester taking the top spot. This could be due to Salford being the home of MediaCityUK, TV studios used by the BBC, ITV and other production companies.
| Rank | Town/City | Number of TV Shows Filmed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | London | 1,571 |
| 2 | Manchester | 287 |
| 3 | Glasgow | 124 |
| 3 | Bristol | 124 |
| 5 | Birmingham | 114 |
| 6 | Leeds | 96 |
| 7 | Bradford | 85 |
| 8 | Cardiff | 73 |
| 9 | Liverpool | 68 |
| 10 | Edinburgh | 65 |
| 10 | Southampton | 65 |
| 12 | Nottingham | 62 |
| 13 | Westminster | 58 |
| 14 | Brighton and Hove | 50 |
| 15 | Belfast | 44 |
| 16 | Newcastle | 41 |
| 17 | York | 38 |
| 18 | Oxford | 34 |
| 19 | Bolton | 32 |
| 20 | Sheffield | 31 |
| 21 | Blackpool | 30 |
| 22 | Norwich | 27 |
| 23 | Cambridge | 20 |
| 24 | Leicester | 17 |
| 24 | Coventry | 17 |
| 24 | Slough | 17 |
| 27 | Derby | 16 |
| 28 | Swansea | 15 |
| 29 | Wolverhampton | 14 |
| 29 | Reading | 14 |
| 29 | Aberdeen | 14 |
| 32 | Stoke | 13 |
| 32 | Portsmouth | 13 |
| 32 | Plymouth | 13 |
| 35 | Northampton | 12 |
| 35 | Bournemouth | 12 |
| 37 | Luton | 10 |
| 37 | Southend | 10 |
| 37 | Milton Keynes | 10 |
| 37 | Dundee | 10 |
| 41 | Swindon | 8 |
| 41 | Middlesbrough | 8 |
| 41 | Huddersfield | 8 |
| 44 | Hull | 6 |
| 44 | Warrington | 6 |
| 44 | Ipswich | 6 |
| 47 | Sunderland | 5 |
| 47 | Peterborough | 5 |
| 47 | Poole | 5 |
| 50 | Birkenhead | 3 |
| 51 | Telford | 2 |
Ghosts is the top show filmed in the UK
Ghosts - TV Show Tourism Score of 9.41/10
The BBC’s hit sitcom Ghosts is the most popular show on our list, with a TV show tourism score of 9.41 out of 10. It ranks third for its critic and audience score on Rotten Tomatoes (96% and 92%, respectively). Over the past four years, searches for the show’s locations have tripled (223.09%), taking it to third place for the factor.
Due to the nature of the show, it was almost entirely filmed at West Horsley Place, a Grade 1 listed manor house near Guildford. However, the bar where Alison, Mike, and Lucy meet in season three was filmed in Bettys Café tea rooms in Harrogate.
Peaky Blinders - TV Show Tourism Score of 9.34/10
Peaky Blinders takes second place, with one of the highest audience ratings of the TV shows we examined (94%). It also ranks second for location searches, averaging 11.6 million over the last year. Its locations are also the second cheapest, on average (£90 per night).
Filmed across the North West and Yorkshire, the show features the region’s iconic landscapes and architecture, from Bradford City Hall, where the interiors doubled as Tommy Shelby’s Westminster offices, to Formby Beach, the scene of the showdown between Tommy and Alfie Solomons.
Gavin and Stacey - TV Show Tourism Score of 8.99/10
Gavin and Stacey completes the top three, scoring 8.99 out of 10 in our index. The show ranks first for its critic score (98%) and second for its audience score (94%) on Rotten Tomatoes. Its locations are also some of the cheapest, costing £93 a night on average.
Despite the regular series being off our screens since 2010, the show is still hugely popular, with 2024’s Christmas special bringing in more than 20 million viewers. Nessa’s Slots location and the local arcades are worth a visit if you want to swap online slots for real-life slot machines.
Bradford, Keighley, and Shipley are the cheapest TV show locations to stay in
All costing an average of £62 a night for a three-star hotel, Yorkshire’s Bradford, Keighley, and Shipley are the cheapest TV locations to stay and explore.
Bradford has featured extensively in period dramas like Peaky Blinders and Gentleman Jack, thanks to its Victorian architecture, and the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway was used in Netflix’s The English Game, a period drama on the origins of football.
While the BBC’s multi BAFTA-winning Happy Valley was mainly filmed in the Calder Valley, some scenes in season one were filmed in Shipley, earning it the top spot for filming location affordability.
Chatham is the most expensive TV show location to stay in
Chatham in Kent is the most expensive TV location, with a three-star hotel costing £229. One of the town's most iconic locations is the Historic Dockyard. This 80-acre site has more than 100 historic buildings dating from the Georgian period to the present day, making it the perfect location for period dramas. The dockyard has featured in The Crown and Call the Midwife.
| Rank | Location | Average Cost of 3 Star Hotel (one night) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | chatham | £229.00 |
| 2 | east hertfordshire | £195.00 |
| 2 | knebworth | £195.00 |
| 2 | rickmansworth | £195.00 |
| 5 | neston park | £192.00 |
| 6 | nettlebed | £185.00 |
| 7 | cleddau bridge | £153.00 |
| 8 | richmond | £152.00 |
| 9 | frensham ponds | £151.00 |
| 9 | shepperton | £151.00 |
| 11 | chertsey | £149.00 |
| 12 | london | £146.00 |
| 13 | giant's causeway | £144.00 |
| 14 | bamburgh | £138.00 |
| 15 | stroud | £136.00 |
| 16 | corsham | £133.00 |
| 17 | cambridge | £132.00 |
| 18 | sudeley | £130.00 |
| 19 | edinburgh | £124.00 |
| 20 | wallingford | £123.00 |
| 21 | alnwick | £118.00 |
| 21 | belfast | £118.00 |
| 21 | strangford | £118.00 |
| 24 | greenford | £115.00 |
| 24 | lamberhurst | £115.00 |
| 24 | tunbridge wells | £115.00 |
| 24 | windsor | £115.00 |
| 28 | oxford | £113.00 |
| 29 | harrogate | £112.00 |
| 30 | cardiff | £109.00 |
| 30 | carncastle | £109.00 |
| 30 | larne | £109.00 |
| 30 | penarth | £109.00 |
| 34 | porthor | £108.00 |
| 35 | chepstow | £107.00 |
| 35 | chobham | £107.00 |
| 37 | ballymoney | £106.00 |
| 37 | brighton | £106.00 |
| 37 | cranleigh | £106.00 |
| 37 | downhill strand | £106.00 |
| 37 | guildford | £106.00 |
| 37 | liverpool | £106.00 |
| 43 | selhurst | £102.00 |
| 43 | watford | £102.00 |
| 45 | ely | £101.00 |
| 46 | port sunlight | £100.00 |
| 47 | salisbury | £99.00 |
| 48 | reading | £98.00 |
| 48 | ross on wye | £98.00 |
| 50 | luton | £97.00 |
| 51 | blockley | £96.00 |
| 52 | bristol | £95.00 |
| 52 | poole | £95.00 |
| 54 | dudley | £93.00 |
| 55 | haywards heath | £92.00 |
| 56 | brockweir | £91.00 |
| 57 | stoke poges | £90.00 |
| 57 | waddesdon | £90.00 |
| 59 | northwich | £89.00 |
| 60 | seaham | £88.00 |
| 61 | pembroke dock | £87.00 |
| 62 | leeds | £85.00 |
| 62 | manchester | £85.00 |
| 62 | newbury | £85.00 |
| 65 | dartford | £83.00 |
| 66 | llandogo | £82.00 |
| 66 | stirling | £82.00 |
| 68 | peterhead | £80.00 |
| 69 | barry | £77.00 |
| 70 | hayes | £72.00 |
| 71 | chadlington | £68.00 |
| 71 | ellesmere port | £68.00 |
| 73 | dunstable | £66.00 |
| 74 | bradford | £62.00 |
| 74 | keighley | £62.00 |
| 74 | shipley | £62.00 |
Methodology
Beginning with a list of the UK’s 30 most popular British TV shows and their filming locations according to IMDb, we analysed each on the following factors. We then gave each TV show a normalised score out of ten for each factor, before taking an average across each score to reach our final overall score out of ten.
IMDb Score
The rating out of 10 for each TV show, according to IMDb.
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score
The percentage of positive reviews from critics for each TV show, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score
The percentage of positive reviews from audiences for each TV show, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
TV Show Searches
The total number of Google searches for each TV show using the keywords “watch [TV show]” and “watch [TV show] online” from May 2024 to April 2025, according to Google Ads.
Average Location Searches May 2024- April 2025
The number of searches for each TV show location from May 2024 to April 2025, according to Google Ads.
Percentage Change in Average Location Searches 2021- 2025
The percentage difference in Google searches for each TV location between May 2021 and April 2022, and May 2024 and April 2025.
Average Cost of 3-Star Hotel (one night)
The average cost of a 3-star hotel across the locations used in each TV show, according to Booking.com. Where data for exact locations was unavailable, the closest available location was used.
We then took averages of each factor for each location and used the same process to rank TV show locations.
We also used IMDb to find the total number of TV shows recorded in each county and the top 50 biggest towns and cities in the UK, according to the ONS.
All data is correct as of May 2025.
