Adultery on ITV: North West of England filming locations include picturesque hamlet posing as Lake District
We're in our North West England era
Adultery is a brand new ITV drama from Manchester writer Danny Brocklehurst, so it’s no surprise that the filming locations are all found in the North West of England.
Both ITV and the BBC have moved away from London-centric dramas in recent years. Just this month, viewers have explored the Welsh filming locations of The Party, the Northern Ireland settings of Time, and the Bristol scenery of Winter.
In the new six-part drama, Dominic Cooper and Romola Garai play Tom and Beth. As the title suggests, the pair become “entangled in a web of lies and deceit when they begin an adulterous affair”. Their relationship threatens their marriages, families and lives.
Things become even more complicated when their children – who are dating – become more and more intertwined.
BAFTA-winner Danny Brocklehurst previously adapted Fool Me Once, and co-created Brassic, Ten Pound Poms, Lazarus, and No Return. He hails from Manchester, which offers a useful clue to the filming locations ITV chose for Adultery.
Where is Adultery set?
ITV brings viewers a new, “messy” drama set in Manchester, from the writer behind Fool Me Once. Fans of the Harlan Coben-Netflix collaborations will also recognise Manchester as the setting for the Michelle Keegan thriller Fool Me Once. Manchester-born Danny Brocklehurst clearly enjoys working in his hometown.
Manchester has also provided filming locations for Coronation Street, Brassic, After the Flood, Alma’s Not Normal and Domino Day in recent years.
The city has earned the nickname “capital of the North”. It’s famous for its football, music and rich industrial heritage.
Manchester sits in North West England, within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester. The city lies about 160 miles (260 km) northwest of London, with the Pennines to the north and east and the Cheshire Plain to the south.
Where is the ITV drama Adultery filmed?
The production team filmed most of the six-part series in and around Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. Greater Manchester covers 493 square miles and has a population of around 2.8 million, making it the UK’s second-most populous urban area.
The county comprises 10 metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan. The cast and crew filmed scenes across several of these boroughs.
Local residents spotted the cast filming at The Bridgewater Pub on Church Street in Darwen. Dominic Cooper and other cast members also filmed scenes in the Lancashire town. The production team used local streets and the market square, including Bank Street and Church Bank Street.
The production also ventured farther afield. Viewers can spot Honister Pass, a winding road in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The scenic route connects the valleys of Buttermere and Borrowdale.
Some scenes were shot farther afield, however. The winding road of Honister Pass in the Lake District National Park, Cumbria, England, is also featured in Adultery on ITV. The stunning pass connects the valleys of Buttermere and Borrowdale.
Where is Tom and Hannah’s plush house?
The production team filmed the series’ main residential scenes in Heaton Norris, a suburb of Stockport.
The crew also used the historic hamlet of Firwood Fold in Bolton for residential scenes. Viewers familiar with Bolton may recognise the streets of Firwood Fold, one of the borough’s most picturesque areas. Production crews filmed inside a house next to the historic cottages where inventor Samuel Crompton was born.
Other streets include Lomond Drive, in Bury, Greater Manchester. It’s a cul-de-sac with modest houses.
Adultery ITV filming locations: Did cast and crew film in Blackpool?
In episode one of Adultery, teenagers Jess and Ollie enjoy the excitement of first love and bunk off school to visit Blackpool. The cast and crew filmed these scenes at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Viewers can watch the teenagers ride the famous Big Dipper wooden roller coaster and the Icon roller coaster. The pair later walk along Blackpool beach, with Central Pier’s Big Wheel in the background. The camera also captures the unmistakable silhouette of Blackpool Tower, one of the seaside town’s most iconic landmarks.
Anyone who watches Strictly Come Dancing’s annual visit to Blackpool will recognise the town on Lancashire’s Irish Sea coast. This is thanks to its famous The Blackpool Tower Ballroom.
Key filming locations in Adultery on ITV
- The production team filmed Adultery across several locations in North West England, with additional scenes in Cumbria. Aerial views show Honister Pass in the Lake District National Park features the winding road that connects the valleys of Buttermere and Borrowdale. However, cast and crew actually filmed the house scenes in the picturesque Firwood Fold, specifically the house next door to inventor Samuel Crompton’s house. Firwood Fold is a historic hamlet in Bolton.
- Meanwhile, the lake where Beth and Tom swim is in East Lancashire.
- In episode 2, Beth and Tom meet at Reddish Vale Farm. It’s a real farm just outside Manchester with an indoor play area, animal encounters, and outdoor playground. We don’t advise meeting there for extra-marital sex though.
- Hannah and Tom enjoy dinner in Australasia, a popular subterranean pan-Asian restaurant and bar located in Spinningfields, Manchester. It’s a chic, “sun-kissed underground setting” featuring distinctive woven dome pendant lighting and lush greenery.
- Episode 4 films outside and inside Manchester Crown Court (Crown Square), when Neil faces justice for ABH.
- In episode 5, Beth and Hannah for a drink in Nook Cafe, an independent coffee house and bar located on Heaton Moor Road in Heaton Moor, Stockport.
- Also in episode 5, Tom and Beth meet in Darwen’s Market Square. The distinctive curved landscaping, central sculpture of a woven-copper Peregrine Falcon by artist Liam Hopkins, and adjacent tiered seating structures are prominent features of the public square.
