The Fortune on Channel 5: Filming locations include 'bizarre and beautiful' UK harbour and 'incredibly grand house'
Oh we do like to be beside the seaside...
The Fortune is the latest thriller to land on Channel 5, and the tension of the plot is helped no end by the “bizarre and beautiful” filming locations which “lent itself to the eeriness and oddness of the series”.
The four-parter (which lands on Tuesday, June 02, 2026) introduces Amanda Blakefield, a happily married mum-of-one who is content with her life working in a coastal restaurant with her husband and best friend.
But her life really is turned upside down when she is left a life-changing amount of money. When the very wealthy entrepreneur Martin Worrall takes his own life, he leaves his enormous inheritance to Amanda. However, she has “neither met nor heard of him before”.
On paper, it sounds like amazing news. But Martin has a wife and son, who threaten to take her to court if she doesn’t give up her claim to the inheritance…
So what filming locations did the cast and crew of The Fortune use? Here’s everything you need to know.
Where is The Fortune on Channel 5 set?
The Fortune on Channel 5 is set in an unnamed UK coastal town, but it’s clear from the accents – and the weather! – that it predominantly takes place in the North East of England.
Amanda works in a seaside restaurant, and viewers will see panoramic shots of a harbour and a pier. The opening scenes of the series shows traditional Victorian-style terrace housing, characteristic of seaside towns.
Many Channel 5 thrillers have recently been set in the UK, but filmed abroad. For example, Number One Fan (set in Manchester, but filmed in Spain), Girl Taken (set in the north of England, but filmed in San Sebastián), and The Couple Next Door (set in Leeds, but actually filmed in Belgium).
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So where exactly was The Fortune filmed?
Where was The Fortune actually filmed?
There’s no mistaking a seaside town in the UK. The Fortune really was filmed in England, specifically the coastal port town of Hartlepool on the North Sea coast of County Durham, North East England.
Cast and crew filmed at locations including Hartlepool during an eight-week shoot last year. They also set camp in other coastal and rural areas across Northumberland.
Hartlepool is a historic North East English port town. It’s famous for its marina, striking coastal paths, and great family beaches like Seaton Carew, the town’s primary sandy beach.
Hartlepool’s Headland is the oldest part of the town, and features heavily in The Fortune. It features atmospheric coastal paths, and unique views of the North Sea.
Channel 5’s psychological thriller was filmed entirely in the North East of England, with Hartlepool and Northumberland serving as the primary backdrops.
The Fortune filming locations: Where is the house based?
In The Fortune, Amanda inherits a “very large estate” with a grand ivy-covered house, and 50 acres of land. In the series, it is called Brackburn House.
However, the house is actually Cleveland Lodge in Great Ayton, North Yorkshire. Hartlepool sits about 25 miles north of the North Yorkshire border.
Cleveland Lodge is a mid-Victorian country villa built between 1844 and 1848. It is deeply rooted in the region’s Quaker heritage, notable for its association with the Richardson, Pease, Fry, and Cadbury families. Architects designed it with expansive grounds including a formal terraced garden, parkland, and tree belts.
The estate features a Grade II-listed main house, along with two entrance lodges, carriage drives, a Victorian water feature/fountain, and extensive parkland.
However, only the exteriors of Cleveland Lodge were used for filming. The outside of the house where Fiona Worrall is sometimes seen having morning tea, was actually filmed at Shaw Hill Golf & Spa Hotel in Lancashire, England. The venue is a Georgian manor house located on a golf course, often used for weddings.
Talking about filming in Brackburn House, Anthony Worrall actor Callum Woodhouse told us: “It’s a beautiful building. It was odd to walk around. I had to send photos to production of me through my early years that they could decorate the set with. I’m walking through this incredibly grand house and then there’s my Year Four photograph from primary school. Or there’s me on that holiday in the Lakes when I went horse-riding. It was quite surreal seeing my family photos in this unbelievable house.”
Stephen Tompkinson, who plays Boots, said: “Brackburn House was a beautiful place to film in and the views were stunning.
What other key filming locations were used in The Fortune?
- The coastline and historic buildings of the Hartlepool Headland feature heavily in The Fortune. This is where Amanda’s restaurant Sandy’s is located. Although, in real life, it’s not a cafe! The pretty, pastel-coloured houses are in a residential area right along the seaside, featuring a mix of terraced houses and a church in the background. The coastal area includes prominent features such as breakwaters and a nearby harbour.
- The Heugh Breakwater, located at the Hartlepool Headland in North East England, also features in the TV show. The structure was constructed in 1853 to protect Hartlepool Dock from tides, currents, and storms. It projects out into the sea near the lighthouse at the tip of the Headland.
- Whinwood Lodge, the care home where Amanda’s mum lives, is actually Greenbank on Elwick Road in Hartlepool, UK. Originally a late 19th-century mansion house, it now serves as a business centre and base for various charities and social enterprises.
- Produced by Newcastle-based Lonesome Pine Productions, the production was based at The Northern Film & TV Studios on Lynn Street in Hartlepool. Sixty three per cent of the crew were North East-based.
- Hartlepool’s marina. Nestling on the Tees Valley in the North East of England, the Hartlepool Marina is ideally placed for access to the open sea and for cruising in the sheltered waters of Tees Bay. It offers picturesque seascapes with the pretty back drop of Hartlepool Headland.
- The ‘Happy Place’ is right on the Tees, on the mouth of the river. There is a decommissioned oil rig in the background.
- The police station Amanda visits in the final episode is actually the former police station on Raby Road in Hartlepool, UK. The red brick, municipal-style building now serves as the People’s Centre.
‘It was an extraordinary place to film’
Talking about her favourite filming location on The Fortune, actress Eleanor Tomlinson said: “There was a fishing harbour where we did the ‘Happy Place’ scenes. It was like being on a film set without having been dressed. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming to us. It was an extraordinary place to film. We could have been anywhere in the world. It’s bizarre and beautiful and really lent itself to the eeriness and oddness of the series.”
She added: “I loved filming in Hartlepool. I have never worked with such a fantastic and friendly crew. It was an absolute joy to spend eight weeks there. More money should be invested in the Northeast to champion the talent there.”
The Fortune filming locations: Callum Woodhouse on his accent
Callum Woodhouse is from nearby Stockton-on-Tees, in Cleveland. He said: “I had the luxury of filming the show where I am from. Production said they were looking at hotels and Airbnbs for me to stay in. I asked if I could just stay with my mum and dad because it was closer to set than all the places they were looking at. I stayed with them the whole shoot. We were filming in places where I’d been for Sunday lunch. I became the guru for all the cast on what to do at the weekends.”
Talking about his accent, he revealed he’s lived in London for more than 10 years so was worried about his Teeside accent. He said: “When you spend so long away from where you are from your accent dilutes. When I go home and see my parents they go, ‘God, you’re talking so posh now!’
“Then I come back to London and my girlfriend is like, ‘I can’t understand a word you are saying’. Anthony is from the Northeast of England but look at the house where he lives and the sort of people he mixes with. If there is anyone in this show who is going to be at the posher end of the Northeast, it is Anthony. That’s kind of what my own accent has become. It’s Northern, but just a little bit diluted from being down South so much.”
Like Callum, Stephen Tompkinson was also close to home. The actor, who plays Boots, said: “I don’t usually get the fortune to stay at home when I’m filming. So the luxury of throwing myself into filming but being at home every night was a perfect treat.”
‘Hartlepool on a Friday night can be pretty special’
Writer Aschlin Ditta, who also wrote The Inheritance, describes the process of finding locations, as well as the challenges. He said: “We shot all the series around Hartlepool. One of the joys of these jobs is you write something in the script, you have it in your head and then the location manager says ‘what about this?’ and you realise it’s so much better than what you wrote.
“The location that we called the ‘Happy Place’, which is where the story ends up, I wrote it as a rundown little place in the middle of nowhere. Then locations manager Davey [David Gales] found a place by the sea. It is right on the Tees, right on the mouth of the river. You’ve got this decommissioned oil rig in the background, which has just been left to rot. It’s sort of tragic, but visually it’s amazing. The story needed a landmark that can be seen in a photograph. I found that location thrilling. It was a tough place to shoot. There was a horrendous storm, and it was just this little shack, so it was all hands to the pump.”
As for the most challenging days of filming, Aschlin revealed: “The night we shot in the harbour was also challenging. It was a night shoot and there are about six pubs around the harbour. As we started turning over, they were chucking out. Hartlepool on a Friday night can be pretty special. People coming out of pubs six pints in wondering why they were watching somebody being drowned was a challenge (potential spoiler).”
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