Bristol is one of the UK's most-filmed cities outside London, and most of its best-known locations are ordinary public streets, buildings and caves you can walk straight up to. Redcliffe Caves have doubled for Poldark's Cornwall across five series. Clifton's Georgian terraces have played Doctor Who's modern-day London. Bristol Old Vic, Corn Street and the Harbourside turn up across decades of TV. The city has its own Film Office that maintains official location trails, so you don't need to guess.
Why Bristol gets so much filming
Bristol holds UNESCO City of Film status, and has done since 2017, recognising both its production history and its working film industry. The city's biggest practical asset is The Bottle Yard Studios, a council-owned studio complex that has served as the production base for Poldark, Sherlock's 2016 special The Abominable Bride, and a long list of more recent shows including The Outlaws, Industry and The Forsytes. Having a studio base plus a dense mix of Georgian, Victorian and harbourside architecture within a few square miles is why directors keep coming back.
Doctor Who in Bristol
Doctor Who has filmed in Bristol on and off since the 1970s, and recent episodes lean on it heavily. Real locations used include:
- Clifton (Frederick Place, Wetherell Place, Bruton Place and Park Place) for The Church on Ruby Road (2023)
- Clare Street, Broad Street and Small Street in the old city for The Giggle (2023)
- Bristol Museum & Art Gallery for The Power of the Doctor (2022)
- Clifton Suspension Bridge for Revolution of the Daleks (2022)
- Redcliffe Caves for Empress of Mars (2017)
- Royal Fort House, University of Bristol, for Asylum of the Daleks (2012)
- Corn Street and All Saints Lane for The Snowmen (2012)
Most of these are ordinary streets and public buildings you can walk up to any day, with the exception of Redcliffe Caves, which only opens for occasional guided tours.
Sherlock and Poldark
Sherlock's production team used Bristol repeatedly between 2010 and 2016, including the opening stand-off between Sherlock and Moriarty in A Scandal in Belgravia and John Watson's wedding in The Sign of Three. The 2016 special, The Abominable Bride, was based out of The Bottle Yard Studios. The Bristol Film Office publishes a dedicated Sherlock Locations Trail covering most of the sites used, with a downloadable map.
Poldark used Bristol as a stand-in for 18th-century Cornwall across all five series, with Redcliffe Caves appearing in every single one. Series 5 alone also used Bristol Old Vic Theatre, All Saints Court, Tailor's Court, Leigh Court and Ashton Court. If you've walked through Redcliffe without realising it, this is likely why the caves looked oddly familiar.
Other shows filmed in Bristol
Bristol's filming credits go well beyond Doctor Who, Sherlock and Poldark. Long-running series shot at least partly in the city include Casualty, Only Fools and Horses and The Young Ones, and more recent productions include The Outlaws, Industry, Rivals, The Forsytes and Young Sherlock. Skins, the teen drama set in Bristol, filmed around Clifton and the city centre and still draws fans retracing its locations today.
How to actually explore them
The Bristol Film Office runs the most reliable resource for this: its Movie Maps site lists locations by production with an interactive map, plus printable trails for Sherlock and other series. VisitBristol also publishes a self-guided filming locations itinerary that mixes several productions into one walkable route from Clifton down to the Harbourside. If you'd rather have someone show you around, the Bristol Film and TV Tour runs as a guided option covering the same ground with added background and trivia.
A sensible half-day route on foot: start in Clifton for the Doctor Who and Skins locations, walk down through the city centre past Corn Street and Broad Street, and finish at Redcliffe and the Harbourside for Poldark's caves and the general harbourside backdrop used across dozens of productions. Pair it with our guide to Banksy street art in Bristol if you want to combine it with the city's other famous visual export, or see one day in Bristol for how to fit it alongside the rest of the city's sights.
Quick facts
| Bristol filming | |
|---|---|
| Status | UNESCO City of Film since 2017 |
| Studio base | The Bottle Yard Studios |
| Most-reused location | Redcliffe Caves (Doctor Who, Poldark and others) |
| Official resource | Bristol Film Office Movie Maps and location trails |
| Guided option | Bristol Film and TV Tour |
| Cost to visit most locations | Free; they're ordinary public streets and buildings |