A Woman of Substance filming locations: UK city posing as New York, and famous Yorkshire landmark used in C4 period drama

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By Helen Fear

11 Mar 2026, 20:03

By Helen Fear

11 Mar 2026, 20:03

A Woman of Substance is an epic tale of revenge, which spans six decades and several countries – but not all the filming locations are exactly where they say they are.

Based on the best-selling novel by the late Barbara Taylor Bradford OBE, the new eight-part series charts the rise of Emma Harte. She begins the tale as a penniless maid in the early 1900s in Yorkshire. But, fuelled by ambition and rage, she subsequently becomes a powerful 1970s business woman.

Betrayed by her aristocratic lover and cast out when she becomes pregnant, young Emma vows a lifelong revenge on the family she once worked for. Quite frankly, they were fools to underestimate her.

So what filming locations were used in the period drama A Woman of Substance on Channel 4. And what UK city cunningly poses as New York? Here’s everything you need to know.

Where is A Woman of Substance set?

The lavish period drama charts Emma Harte’s rise from a maid in Yorkshire to a successful businesswoman in New York.

At the beginning of the eight-parter, viewers are introduced to a ‘grown-up’ Emma Harte. She is living in New York, with plenty of famous landmarks visible. We also see her huge department store Hartes. It’s a grand building made to look like a Selfridge-style shop with the use of green awning with golden lettering. 

Subsequent flashbacks show Emma’s young life working at a Yorkshire estate. Viewers see sweeping landscape shots of Yorkshire and the famous moors.

Where was it actually filmed?

Wuthering Heights this isn’t. But the drama DOES use Yorkshire as a real backdrop. Like the famous book it’s based on, Emma Harte begins her working career as a maid in a Yorkshire estate. And cast and crew used the beautiful historic county as a backdrop.

Of course, Yorkshire is Northern England’s largest county in the UK. It stretches from the Pennines to the North Sea, and includes West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, and the East Riding. 

It’s not the first time a book – or a TV show – has used Yorkshire as a backdrop. The aforementioned Wuthering Heights was set in the moody landscape, as was Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden, and James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small.

Meanwhile, the New York scenes were actually filmed in the UK city of Liverpool! Read on for more specific details.

Woman of Substance filming locations: What building was used as Hartes in New York?

The opening scenes of A Woman of Substance on Channel 4 show Brenda Blethyn’s character Emma Harte arriving at her grand department store of Hartes in New York. The scenes are set in New York in 1975.

But none of the scenes were filmed in the iconic US city. In fact, all the US settings were filmed in Liverpool.  Cast and crew transformed the English city to look like vintage New York. And it is the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool that is actually posing as Hartes department store. It’s a Grade I listed landmark and an iconic 1911 structure at Liverpool’s Pier Head.

The production featured classic yellow taxis and vintage cars parked outside the landmark. Like the recent ITV crime drama Betrayal, A Woman of Substance filmed in and around Liverpool, most notable at the Royal Liver Building which is part of the Three Graces. It is known as a defining feature of the Liverpool waterfront, and was formerly part of the UNESCO World Heritage Maritime Mercantile City site.

The Three Graces – consisting of the Royal Liver Building, The Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building – may not be New York but they present a stunning sky line.

Meanwhile, don’t be fooled by shots of the famous Empire State Building, seen in the window of Emma’s posh office. They were digitally altered in the production suite!

Where was Fairley Hall filmed?

Broughton Hall in North Yorkshire was used as the primary setting for Fairley Hall. The Grade I-listed Georgian mansion is surrounded by 3,000 acres of Yorkshire Dales land. TV nerds might already know that it’s the same filming location used in the original 1984 series.

Broughton Hall, which has 17 bedrooms, is a historic house dating back to 1597. It is surrounded by the rewilded 3,000-acre Broughton Estate, which has been home to the Tempest family since 1097. The private property sits on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales and comprises woodland, rivers, ponds, wide open countryside, farmsteads and time-capsule interiors capturing style across the ages.

The estate has been used for productions like All Creatures Great & Small, Gentleman Jack, and Calendar Girls. You can even stay there if you’re feeling flush.

Talking about filming in Broughton Hall, Lydia Leonard – aka Olivia Wainwright – told us: “We filmed at Broughton Hall, which is beautiful. It’s one of my favourite places to shoot, and we used different bits of it this time. It adds so much to the piece because the house becomes almost like another character in its own right. I love the incredible locations you get to work in on period dramas, and we were staying just round the corner, spending the summer in Yorkshire.”

What other key filming locations were used in A Woman of Substance on Channel 4?

Jessica Reynolds, who plays Emma Harte, loved filming on location in the Yorkshire moors. She said: “Those were my favourite scenes. I know the crew worry about wind and rain, but I just love being able have nature around me and working off the elements. I feel much less self-conscious, and freer. Some of the locations were just breathtaking and those are the images that stick in my mind today when I think back to filming. Yorkshire is just stunning. Those are some of Emma’s happiest moments too, when she’s so connected to the land. It’s a beautiful thing.

Production crews in Yorkshire also filmed in and around:

• Barnsley Town Hall, the home of Barnsley Council. The famous local landmark dates from 1933 and is a popular venue for weddings and civil partnerships. The historic town hall has a landscaped fountain area outside.
• Brodsworth Hall and Gardens near Doncaster.
• Ilkley Moor in Yorkshire.
• Skipton in the Yorkshire countryside.
• Beamish in Stanley was also used as a filming location in A Woman of Substance. The “living museum of the north” is a world-famous open-air museum in County Durham, England. Dr Frank Atkinson founded it in 1970  to depict 19th and 20th-century life.

“The New York scenes were filmed in Liverpool”

Talking about the filming locations in A Woman of Substance, showrunner and writer Katherine Jakeways told us: “A story spanning so many decades was a gift. Because you get all the grit and beauty of the Yorkshire Moors, with young Emma’s striving and passion. But then every episode you get to spend a bit of time in New York in 1975.

“We had to make sure the 1970s scenes felt purposeful and that both timelines were informing each other. So we went back and forth on that a lot – it was a bit of a crossword. I hope we got it right and the audience feels glad to be in both worlds. The New York scenes were filmed in Liverpool, but they look so authentic, exciting and buzzy.”

Woman of Substance filming locations: “Yorkshire is a stunning place to film”

Will Mellor plays Jack Harte and he loved playing against type in a period drama. He revealed: “Certain costumes really transform you – just like you’d carry yourself differently if you were a detective in a suit, or a knight in armour. It’s the same for Jack Harte’s gear. When I put his flat cap and moustache on in the morning, I didn’t look or feel like myself anymore, which was brilliant.”

Talking about the filming locations of A Woman of Substance, he said: “The set was amazing too, especially seeing all the supporting artists dressed up, and the horses and carriages. You were transported to the early 1900s. Yorkshire is a stunning place to film, and often I just felt like I was in a Hovis advert!”

Read more: The 15 best ITVX dramas to watch in March 2026

A Woman of Substance premieres on Channel 4 on Wednesday, March 11, at 9pm. All eight episodes will be available to stream from 9pm.