Where was This Town filmed?
Steven Knight's new drama finds the writer returning to his roots.
Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight is transporting us back to Birmingham in his latest show, This Town.
Set in the 1980s, the new BBC drama revolves around Dante, a young aspiring poet, as well as his family and friends, after he decides to set his words to music and start a band.
Knight, who grew up in an area called Streetly on the city’s borders, has called the series "a love letter to Birmingham and Coventry".
"This is a project very close to my heart," he said of the show when it first went into production. "It’s about an era I lived through and know well, and it involves characters who I feel I grew up with."
He continued: "It’s a love letter to Birmingham and Coventry, but I hope people from all over the world will relate to it."
More like this
Wondering where exactly the show is set and where it was filmed? Read on for everything you need to know about the filming locations for This Town.
Where was This Town filmed? Locations used for new BBC drama
Filming for This Town, fittingly, took place all across the Midlands, including in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Stoke-on-Trent, West Bromwich and Coventry.
Large parts of the series were also filmed at Knight's own Digbeth Loc Studios in Digbeth, Birmingham, with this being the first major drama production to be filmed there.
By entering your details, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and privacy policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Other projects expected to film there in the future include Knight's own Peaky Blinders movie, which is set to start shooting this year, and MasterChef, which is also set to move production there in the coming months.
Levi Brown, who plays Dante, noted the importance of filming the series in Birmingham, saying: "Something I hope that people will take away is just how beautiful Birmingham can be if you can look at it from the right angles."
Where is This Town set?
This Town is set almost entirely in Birmingham, Coventry and the rest of the Midlands. Dante and his father Deuce live in Birmingham, while Bardon and that side of the family live in Coventry.
The series has been described by Knight as a "love letter to Birmingham and Coventry", with the writer himself having grown up in Small Heath, Birmingham.
Two specific areas which feature in the show are Handsworth, Birmingham, where a real-life riot which took place in 1981 is dramatised, and the M6 motorway.
Knight explained: "It’s depicting working class life without any sense of sorrow or pity and, rather than that, seeing the glory and the glamour of it.
"I’ve always thought motorways at night are very beautiful, so the M6 is a big character in this, and – not necessarily to live in but to look at – huge, big tower blocks, looking down from the top to the rest of the world.
"I wanted to get all of that in. Luckily our brilliant director Paul Whittington has made it look like a painting."
Gregory star Jordan Bolger said of the series: "The bones of it – what makes it – is the Midlands. It’s a part of the country that’s given so much culturally over the years but doesn’t really get its flowers.
"Steven Knight has said this show is a love letter to the Midlands. It’s about different cultures that make our country, like Irish, Jamaican and English."
Meanwhile, Jeannie star Eve Austin added that a lot of the cast "come from very similar backgrounds and experiences", explaining: "Myself, Levi and Ben are all Midlands kids, which is different to being a southerner or a northerner, as it has its own world."
This Town is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.
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.
