Legends filming locations: All 4 UK cities, a former convent & one country over 1,500 miles away

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By Cameron Frew

7 May 2026, 14:05

By Cameron Frew

7 May 2026, 14:05

Legends may appear to be a globe-trotting drug thriller, but Netflix has been quite crafty with the show’s filming locations – and it only filmed in one country outside the UK.

The new Netflix series takes place in the ’90s, against the backdrop of Margaret Thatcher’s dwindling days in power and rising heroin deaths across the country.

Rather than leaning on cops or intelligence agents, the government recruits a group of everyday Customs officers to go undercover. Their aim? To infiltrate and stop some of the most dangerous drug gangs operating in Britain.

This takes them all across England, with scenes even taking place much further afield in the Middle East. However, we know where they actually filmed Legends – and not every scene is quite what it seems.

Where was Legends filmed?

Legends was primarily filmed in the UK. More specifically, four cities in England: London, Liverpool, Portsmouth, and St Albans. Scenes were also filmed in Bedford, East Sussex, and Reading.

Yes, that means when the show sends a drug dealer to Glasgow, they didn’t actually film it in Scotland.

We have a long list of filming locations (and we’ll show you all of them shortly), but there are a few that stand out.

For example, there’s a tense scene late in the series with Guy (Tom Burke) on the tube. This was actually filmed in Acton’s Museum Depot, a “treasure trove” of over 320,000 objects from the history of London transport.

In episode 1, Guy is sent to find drug dealers at a nightclub. This was filmed at Fabric in Farringdon.

Other scenes were also filmed at the Nabisco Shredded Wheat Factory in Welwyn Garden City, Custom House in London, and the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool.

There’s a brief sequence set in Germany in the later episodes, but this was shot in Winterfold Forest in Cranleigh.

Why Legends’ filming locations were such an ‘enormous challenge’

Legends is thoroughly and consistently immersive. Even if it cheats a little bit by filming somewhere else from where it says it is, its on-location, down-to-earth, practical aesthetic is one of the strongest aspects of the show.

Neil Forsyth, the series’ creator, wanted to make it “look cinematic and feel authentic”.

“We shot almost exclusively in practical locations, for example. The enormous amount of locations was a challenge for us, production-wise, but gives the viewer that sense of constantly moving into surprising new worlds,” he told Netflix.

“You never know where the story’s going to go, which is very exciting narratively for the audience, but can make production people tear their hair out! We’ve just been on the move constantly, like a travelling circus.”

How Legends made its locations look like the 1990s

While the characters are styled in ’90s clothes, one of the other striking things about Legends is how seamlessly it transports you back to the ’90s.

Accoding to director Brady Hood, they strove for the “look and feel of the show was to be true”.

“We did extensive research and did what we could to capture 1990s-era Britain in contemporary London and Liverpool,” he explained.

“I feel sometimes people get hung up on shooting ‘period’ shows, and needing to make a mark of that fact. Whereas I don’t think human beings walking around in the moment really see the period; we’re just living it.

“It was important to me that the period aspect was all correct, but we never captured shots just to show the period, if you will. We’re interacting with the era, but we’re not necessarily making a deal of it. It’s just part of everyday life.”

Why Legends was filmed in Morocco

Legends may revolve around British Customs agents, but it also follows drug dealers and international smugglers. So, there are scenes supposedly set in Karachi and Kyber in Pakistan, which becomes a major part of the plot in the later episodes.

However, the production team didn’t film in Pakistan. Instead, Morocco, a North African country bordering the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, served as its double.

Morocco is over 1,500 miles away from the UK. Also, Marrakech is a whopping 4,500 miles away from Karachi.

As the credits say, Legends “benefited from the support of Morocco for production”.

This would suggest it was eligible for the Marrakech Film Commission’s tax incentives. In short (much like Secret Service filming in Malta), it allows foreign productions can shoot their movies and TV shows to save money.

“It’s like a miniature continent with diverse landscapes, geographic positions, exceptional 365 days-a-year climate, and great tax breaks that make it an ideal location,” the website reads.

The former convent that appears in Legends

In episode 1 of Legends, Steve Coogan’s Don takes the aspiring drug-busters to a secret training centre usually used by the “spooks”.

However, in real life, the building we see is actually the All Saints Pastoral Centre in St Albans.

Built and completed at the turn of the 20th century, it was originally conceived as a convent for the Society of All Saints Sisters of the Poor.

The order, originally founded in 1852, is much smaller now. It only has 10 registered members in the American institute, while five sisters are part of its community in England. They care for terminally ill children, teenagers, and young adults, and they run Helen House, the world’s first children’s hospice.

As for the All Saints Pastoral Centre, it was acquired by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster in 1973, after which it was converted into a conference centre and retreat.

It was sold to a property developer in the early 2010s, but according to its Savills listing, “all enquiries” are still welcome.

Full list of Legends filming locations

Read more: Legends ending explained and if there’ll be a season 2

Legends is available to stream on Netflix now.