Film, TV & literary locations

Locations in South Devon have appeared on screen many times over the years with Bayard's Cove in Dartmouth and the Dart Valley Railway perhaps more than most. Here's a selection of some of the more memorable appearances, see how many you can remember.

Detective and Murder Mystery Movies

Sleeping Murder - Paignton & Dartmouth Railway - 1986
Nemesis - Burgh Island - 1986
The Mirror Cracked - Burgh Island and Paignton & Dartmouth Railway - 1992
Poirot in Peril at End House - Salcombe - 1992

The Classics and Period Dramas

Sense and Sensibility - Saltram House, Flete Estate, Berry Pomeroy, Compton Castle - 1995
A Jane Austen classic in which two sisters look for love and husbands in spite of their reduced family circumstances following the death of their father.

Rebecca - Mothercombe - 1996
Daphne Du Maurier's tale of an un-named narrator's transition into womanhood and the struggle lay to rest the memory of her husband's first wife , Rebecca, who drowned off the Cornish coast next to the mansion she calls home a year before. The memory of Rebecca is strong on the estate and particularly in its domineering housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, one of literature's most infamous female villains. Starting Charles Dance Fay Dunaway and Diana Rigg who won a Best supporting actress award for her performance.

The French Lieutenant's Woman - Kingswear and Dart Valley Railway - 1981
John Fowles story of turbulent love where a gentlemen forsakes his fiancé for the love of the abandoned mistress of a French seaman in 1867. The historic story line is intertwined with the modern story of actors playing the films characters Starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons.

Movies and Animal Films

International Velvet - Mildmay Colours Inn in Holbeton and Mothercombe - 1978
The story of an American orphan, Sarah Brown, sent to England to live with her aunt, Velvet who at Sarah's age had entered the Grand National won. However, as a woman she was instantly disqualified. Velvet's horse 'The Pie' was retired to a stud, and Sarah and aunt Velvet buy the last The Pie's offspring. Sarah lives up to her dream and enters the Olympic Three Day Event helping Great Britain win the team competition. She falls in love with an American competitor, and moves back to The States.

TV Drama and Comedy

The Onedin Line - Bayard's Cove Dartmouth, Kingswear and the Dart Estuary - 1971-1980
Series about a young man's rise to wealth and power through the establishment of his own shipping line in the late 19th Century.

Down to Earth - Dartmouth and surrounding countryside - 2000
A family swaps the rat race for life on a Devon farm.

Factual and Religious

Songs of Praise - Dartmouth played host to this staple of Sunday evening television - 2004

Return of the Chef - Celebrity Chef John Burton Race returned to England from a year of living in France to open the New Angel restaurant in Dartmouth - 2005

Antiques Roadshow Two episodes of this long running antiques show were filmed at Dartington Hall - 2005