Crime drama Deadwater Fell has been given another life on Netflix after originally airing on Channel 4 back in 2020.

Advertisement

The suspenseful series stars David Tennant (Good Omens) and Cush Jumbo (Criminal Record), and keeps you guessing as it examines who is responsible for a terrible tragedy that leaves the residents of a small Scottish village utterly devastated.

But it's not just the tense plot that has gripped Netflix viewers, but also the series' picturesque filming locations.

If you're wondering where Deadwater Fell was filmed, we have all the information on that below, with Scotland's own Tennant giving his thoughts on the locations used.

Where was Deadwater Fell filmed?

The dark story of Deadwater Fell unfolds in a fictional village called Kirkdarroch, which is an amalgamation of two real locations in Scotland: Dunlop and Kilbarchan.

More like this

Both villages are less than a half-hour drive from the major city of Glasgow, but due to their location in the sprawling Scottish countryside they appear quite remote in the series.

In terms of population size, Kilbarchan is the larger village of the two with 3,622 residents according to the 2011 census, while Dunlop had only 1,127 in total.

Several of the locals actually appeared on the show as supporting artists, including at the party scene in the first episode which features a local Ceilidh band.

Sgt. Steve Campbell (Matthew McNulty), Elliot Campbell (Aaron Connell) and Lewis Campbell (Bradley Connell)
Matthew McNulty as Steve Campbell, Aaron Connell as Elliot Campbell and Bradley Connell as Lewis Campbell in Deadwater Fell.

Kilbarchan is known for its Lilias Day celebration every summer, which sees thousands of visitors flock to the small village for festivities and celebration of Habbie Simpson, the town piper who lived from 1550 to 1620.

People from Kilbarchan are sometimes referred to as Habbies for this reason.

Records of Dunlop date all the way back to the 13th century. In recent history, Dunlop Hill was used by the military after World War I in order to track enemy aircraft approaching Glasgow.

The proximity to one of Scotland's biggest cities was useful to the crew of Deadwater Fell too, as executive producer and star David Tennant explains.

"Just in practical terms, you can be in the centre of a big city and then ten minutes later you can be in the middle of nowhere around Glasgow. From a filming point of view, that’s quite useful to have all those little villages in between them," he said.

Tennant added: "It's not anything like where I grew up, but it feels like a very recognisable place. I don't know if that's specifically Scottish but it's the kind of community you could imagine being anywhere or in many places throughout Scotland."

Cush Jumbo in Deadwater Fell.
Cush Jumbo in Deadwater Fell.

A pivotal scene in the first episode of Deadwater Fell takes place on a beach, as a family day out becomes increasingly frustrated.

This filming took place on Culzean Beach, located within Culzean Country Park in Ayrshire, a little over an hour away from the villages of Kilbarchan and Dunlop.

The beach is also home to Culzean Castle which was constructed in the late 1700s and appears in the classic 1973 horror film The Wicker Man.

Deadwater Fell is available to stream on Channel 4 and Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

Advertisement

Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement