Arts and Culture / Brandon Hill
Bristol on film
New to the city this year? If you consider yourself a film buff then you may already be more familiar with Bristol than you think.
Bristol’s variety of cinematic sites within a relatively small city mean there are a hundred different worlds here, all ripe for filming in. But which of your uni buildings and residential streets will you end up recognising from the screen?
Clifton Suspension Bridge – The Inbetweeners 2
is needed now More than ever
So you’re a few months into being at uni in Bristol when the lads come down for a visit, expecting a good time. Start the tour by taking them to the must-see Clifton Suspension Bridge, one of many Bristol locations featured in the opening sequence of The Inbetweeners 2.
Totterdown – Being Human (series 1 & 2)
If you’re unlucky enough to move in with vampires and werewolves in second year, perhaps try renting a house in Totterdown, the backdrop for Being Human’s first two series. A cramped suburban rise of cheerfully coloured Victorian housing, the area a short walk east from Temple Meads has been voted the fifth hippest place to live in the UK.
Aardman Studios – Wallace and Gromit
Plasticine West Wallaby Street was moulded in a warehouse at Aztec West near the junction of the M4 and M5, but students can play spot the Gromit or Shaun wherever they go: several crazily coloured statues remain in Bristol following charity sculpture trails in recent years.
Brandon Hill – Skins
Thekla (the famous boat nightclub), the bustling Harbourside, and the open space of College Green all formed parts of the Skins characters’ DNA. Series 1 ended on a quiet night atop Brandon Hill, the landscape of a city’s embracing glow continuing almost to the horizon, with Sid and Cassie sharing a sight that thousands of students have witnessed before them.
Redcliffe Caves – Doctor Who
With plenty of modern architecture and older streets, Bristol is a regular stand-in for London and particularly Victorian England (in both Dr Who and Sherlock), but in Series 10 Episode 9, Redcliffe Caves stood in for the red planet, Mars. Also where much of Doctor Who spin-off Class was shot, these atmospheric caves are within the city centre and open for regular tours. Another bit of trivia: recent assistant Pearl Mackie is a Bristol uni graduate.
Goldney Hall – Sherlock
John Watson wasn’t the first to get married in Goldney’s elegant Orangery in series 3’s episode The Sign of Three; real couples are drawn every year to this secret garden hidden inside the University of Bristol halls of residence in Clifton.
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