FILM & TV

Are you a fan of costume drama, be it courtesy of the BBC or Hollywood?  If so, why not use your stay to visit locations which you will recognise from recent productions such as Keira Knightley’s The Duchess and Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice.  With its rugged crags, soft valleys and dramatic lighting, the Peak District looms large on our cinema screens:  Jane Austin based Pride and Prejudice on Bakewell and Chatsworth.  Austen used Chatsworth house as her model for Pemberley, Darcy’s magnificent Derbyshire residence.  Bakewell was transformed into fictional Lampton in her novel.  The cameras returned to shoot the 2005 film version of Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley.  The nearby Stanage Edge was the location of the iconic shot showing Keira looking out over Derbyshire whilst both Chatsworth and Haddon Hall feature in the film and Knightley later returned to Chatsworth to star in The Duchess. 

Alternatively, aficionados of the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice may prefer to visit Lyme Park, half a hour away, scene of Colin Firth’s much-admired lake swim!

Why not visit the reservoirs near Bamford, where the Dam Busters learned to bounce their bombs. The iconic 1954 film, the Dambusters, was filmed at nearby Derwent and Howden Dams, which had actually been used in 1943 as a training ground for Barnes Wallace’s innovative bouncing bomb. 

For those who like their entertainment on the smaller screen, the popular medical TV drama Peak Practice was set in and filmed around the Peak District and in particular at nearby Longnor and Crich (which is also the home of the National Tramway museum, www.tramway.co.uk). 

Haddon Hall featured in the BBC’s production of Jane Eyre and ITV’s production of Moll Flanders.  It was also used by the BBC for the Prince and the Pauper and the Chronicles of Narnia.