Stuck for something to watch at home this week?
Here’s seven films on TV this New Year’s week worth watching that were shot on location in Hertfordshire.
1. Sherlock Holmes
Wednesday, December 30
Sky Cinema Action, 5.50pm.
Robert Downey Jr. plays the famous sleuth in this period mystery adventure directed by Hatfield’s Guy Ritchie.
In the movie,
, where he meets Sir Thomas Rotheram, played by James Fox.
This scene in the movie was shot in the famous Long Gallery at Hatfield House.
2. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Wednesday, December 30
Sky Cinema Action, 8pm.
Scenes from Guy Ritchie’s 2011 Sherlock Holmes sequel were also shot at Hatfield House as well as Elstree Studios in the borough of Hertsmere.
When Holmes visits arch-nemesis Moriarty (Jared Harris) in his university study, the A Game of Shadows scene takes place in the library at Hatfield House.
A scene at the end of the movie featuring Inspector Lestrade, played by Eddie Marsan, was also shot in the Marble Hall.
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Thursday, December 31, New Year’s Eve
ITV, 11am.
Johnny Depp plays Willy Wonka in Tim Burton’s 2005 children’s fantasy.
The Salt family estate in the movie was actually two Hertfordshire locations.
The exterior of the mansion was filmed at Wrotham Park, near Potters Bar, while the Salt family’s press conference after the petulant Veruca finds one of the ‘Golden Tickets’ is held in the Armoury at Hatfield House.
Playing Mr Salt is James Fox, who also filmed Sherlock Holmes at the stately home.
4. Paddington
Thursday, December 31, New Year’s Eve
Channel 4, 5.15pm.
This charming family film follows the adventures of a young Peruvian bear, voiced by Ben Whishaw, who arrives in London in search of a home and a family.
The highest grossing British movie of 2014, Paddington was partly filmed on location in Hertfordshire.
As well as Stages 1, 2 and 7 at the Hertsmere Borough Council-owned Elstree Studios, the comedy about the polite, marmalade-loving bear from Darkest Peru was also shot on location in Hatfield.
The sequence in which Mr Brown – Hugh Bonneville dressed as a cleaning lady – and Paddington sneak into the Geographers’ Guild club were filmed in the Long Gallery at Hatfield House.
As well as Hugh Bonneville, the cast includes Nicole Kidman, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent and Peter Capaldi.
The sequel, Paddington 2, features scenes shot at Knebworth House.
5. Hot Fuzz
Thursday, December 31, New Year’s Eve
ITV2, 9pm.
There’s yet another chance to see the second movie in Edgar Wright’s Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, with Simon Pegg as zealous policeman Nicholas Angel, who is transferred from London to sleepy Sandford.
Pegg’s character teams up with PC Danny Butterman, played by Shaun of the Dead co-star Nick Frost.
In the movie, Angel and Butterman watch a local production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, with the scenes filmed at the Barn Theatre in Welwyn Garden City.
The action comedy climaxes at the Sandford model village, which was built in the grounds of Hatfield House, as confirmed to us by director Edgar Wright himself.
Timothy Dalton’s slimy supermarket manager Simon Skinner ends up impaled on a model church’s spire following a car chase through Hatfield Park.
Pegg and Frost returned to Welwyn Garden City to shoots scenes of The World's End, with four pubs and the town centre used for part of the movie's infamous 'Golden Mile' pub crawl.
The Golden Mile continues in various locations in Letchworth, the world's first garden city.
Pegg and Frost also filmed sequences of their supernatural Amazon Prime Video series Truth Seekers at the former Shredded Wheat factory site in WGC.
6. Mr Holmes
Friday, January 1, New Year’s Day
BBC Two, 6.20pm.
Ian McKellen stars as an aged, retired Sherlock Holmes in this period mystery.
The glorious gardens at Hatfield House were used for this 2015 movie, along with the Long Gallery.
7. Raiders of the Lost Ark
Sunday, January 3, 2021.
Channel 4, 5.30pm.
With Disney confirming 78-year-old Harrison Ford will return as Indiana Jones for a fifth time, enjoy again the first outing of the daring archaeologist from 1981.
Having already filmed Star Wars at Elstree Studios, the whip-cracking Ford was back in Hertfordshire, tracking down the Ark of the Covenant in Steven Spielberg’s action-packed adventure.
Thousands of snakes were brought on site at Elstree Studios for the filming of the Well of Souls sequence.
Harrison Ford is no stranger to Elstree Studios. He filmed the original Star War trilogy there and the first three Indiana Jones blockbusters.
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