BLOODLANDS Film location
For those of you interested in the Bloodlands BBC crime Drama Series which screens on Sunday Evenings, some detective work I’ve put together on the film locations, should you be interested in going out and about when restrictions ease.
Firstly like all productions there appears to have been an extensive use of computer special effects, with the ‘Body Island’ in particular inserted into a location shoot where it isn’t actually located. What I mean by that is the island on which the bodies are found is quite a distance away off shore from other islands and main land, and in the series, Brannick and McGovern are seen standing on a hillside looking towards the island with the farm in the background, but in reality that island is faked.
Photos to follow from where I have gathered up the evidence from local knowledge.
By coincidence I am familiar with ‘Brannick’s House’ which had a private aircraft landing strip on the grassy expanse in front of the house, and a hanger can still be seen in the Northern Corner on Google Maps. The runway was across the grass roughly South West to North East (now grass too long for a landing strip), and I had it in mind as an emergency field for my own aircraft when in that area. It’s now two holiday homes. It consists of two small semi-detached apartments adapted from the original house. Brannick is seen in a shot from outside looking out the window. All remaining shots of him in the house are believed to be studio sets.
Some clues are given to the locations.
Brannicks House
What Tom Brannick sees from the windows.
What Google shows from the jetty.
A significant difference in the scale of the landscape.
The Moving Island
This map features briefly in the second episode which has been faked and altered. It shows Mahee Island, but a section of it is missing. Additionally the ‘body island’ has been moved to beside Cross Island when in fact it isn’t anywhere near there. Some additional islands have been added where they are really only very small areas of ground exposed. Note the shape of the body island in the faked map
Missing section of the road to the golf club and the island that doesn’t exist at this location. (Inserted between the two existing islands).
Shots taken from the island when searching for the bodies pick up this island, but the background is deliberately kept low to allow the farm location to be a believable 800 yards (roughly a half mile away).
Note this is South of Whiterock and North of Ringhaddy. Mahee Island is North of this area by about 5 miles.
The Changing Farm
So where was the witness farm, and it’s relation geographically to the island. Again this is interesting. In the first sighting of the farm in the first episode you see a car driving across a short causeway and as the shot pans the car disappears from view, to the right you see a wind turbine and farm buildings on a hillside.
That is because that farm is here on Reagh Island, and the causeway is the short ridgeway between Mahee Island near the golf club and is the road back towards Comber. The car stops out of shot, or it would appear in the scene (shot from a boat or perhaps long telephoto from the opposite shore) travelling left to right along the road below the farm on the water’s edge.
Here it is from the road.
And here is what you actually see from the farm hillside looking out to Strangford Lough. There is an island out there. It’s the one off the Northern corner of Mahee Island and it’s got several tall trees on it. Ideal though to drop the body island into the shot using a computer and make it closer and appear about 800 yards away.
The following day in the drama they’re out onto the island. Because water is involved it’s very easy to blend different locations together using the water as the border.
Tom turns round to look at the farm before planting the spade in the ground.
Oops something not right here. They were standing parallel to the hedge on the right in the photo above looking out to the island, but now the farm is almost side on.
This was probably to highlight the point that he’s digging in the wrong place, however the angle is too extreme, and would move the island to the shore of the golf course for that view to be possible.
A short time later, McGovern realises there is another tree and asks Birdy, “What do you see?”
This is the next immediate shot of the farm shown on screen. So what do you see lol?
Erm, Only three Chimney stacks now and a third roof skylight in the building closest to the wind turbine perhaps? Wow that’s quick work while all that digging was going on.
So no wonder you have trouble actually tying down views you have seen in real life with the drama series. They are composites, usually with computer adjustments. Even the short video sequences on screen can be filmed in different places for those few seconds of shot, and taken months apart or even longer, as is evident with the changing farm shown here.
Ballyclare former Police Station was used for the External Police Station scenes and the internal police station scenes were created actually inside the Masonic Hall in Rosemary Street Belfast. The Botanic Gardens, Queen’s University, Strangford Harbour, The Docklands, and The Mournes all feature among the filming set locations.
It’s fiction in more ways that just the story. It’s edge of the seat viewing, and be prepared for some major plot twists.
Photo credits BBC Bloodlands Drama Series & Google Maps
For those of you interested in the Bloodlands BBC crime Drama Series which screens on Sunday Evenings, some detective work I’ve put together on the film locations, should you be interested in going out and about when restrictions ease.
Firstly like all productions there appears to have been an extensive use of computer special effects, with the ‘Body Island’ in particular inserted into a location shoot where it isn’t actually located. What I mean by that is the island on which the bodies are found is quite a distance away off shore from other islands and main land, and in the series, Brannick and McGovern are seen standing on a hillside looking towards the island with the farm in the background, but in reality that island is faked.
Photos to follow from where I have gathered up the evidence from local knowledge.
By coincidence I am familiar with ‘Brannick’s House’ which had a private aircraft landing strip on the grassy expanse in front of the house, and a hanger can still be seen in the Northern Corner on Google Maps. The runway was across the grass roughly South West to North East (now grass too long for a landing strip), and I had it in mind as an emergency field for my own aircraft when in that area. It’s now two holiday homes. It consists of two small semi-detached apartments adapted from the original house. Brannick is seen in a shot from outside looking out the window. All remaining shots of him in the house are believed to be studio sets.
Some clues are given to the locations.
Brannicks House
What Tom Brannick sees from the windows.
What Google shows from the jetty.
A significant difference in the scale of the landscape.
The Moving Island
This map features briefly in the second episode which has been faked and altered. It shows Mahee Island, but a section of it is missing. Additionally the ‘body island’ has been moved to beside Cross Island when in fact it isn’t anywhere near there. Some additional islands have been added where they are really only very small areas of ground exposed. Note the shape of the body island in the faked map
Missing section of the road to the golf club and the island that doesn’t exist at this location. (Inserted between the two existing islands).
Shots taken from the island when searching for the bodies pick up this island, but the background is deliberately kept low to allow the farm location to be a believable 800 yards (roughly a half mile away).
Note this is South of Whiterock and North of Ringhaddy. Mahee Island is North of this area by about 5 miles.
The Changing Farm
So where was the witness farm, and it’s relation geographically to the island. Again this is interesting. In the first sighting of the farm in the first episode you see a car driving across a short causeway and as the shot pans the car disappears from view, to the right you see a wind turbine and farm buildings on a hillside.
That is because that farm is here on Reagh Island, and the causeway is the short ridgeway between Mahee Island near the golf club and is the road back towards Comber. The car stops out of shot, or it would appear in the scene (shot from a boat or perhaps long telephoto from the opposite shore) travelling left to right along the road below the farm on the water’s edge.
Here it is from the road.
And here is what you actually see from the farm hillside looking out to Strangford Lough. There is an island out there. It’s the one off the Northern corner of Mahee Island and it’s got several tall trees on it. Ideal though to drop the body island into the shot using a computer and make it closer and appear about 800 yards away.
The following day in the drama they’re out onto the island. Because water is involved it’s very easy to blend different locations together using the water as the border.
Tom turns round to look at the farm before planting the spade in the ground.
Oops something not right here. They were standing parallel to the hedge on the right in the photo above looking out to the island, but now the farm is almost side on.
This was probably to highlight the point that he’s digging in the wrong place, however the angle is too extreme, and would move the island to the shore of the golf course for that view to be possible.
A short time later, McGovern realises there is another tree and asks Birdy, “What do you see?”
This is the next immediate shot of the farm shown on screen. So what do you see lol?
Erm, Only three Chimney stacks now and a third roof skylight in the building closest to the wind turbine perhaps? Wow that’s quick work while all that digging was going on.
So no wonder you have trouble actually tying down views you have seen in real life with the drama series. They are composites, usually with computer adjustments. Even the short video sequences on screen can be filmed in different places for those few seconds of shot, and taken months apart or even longer, as is evident with the changing farm shown here.
Ballyclare former Police Station was used for the External Police Station scenes and the internal police station scenes were created actually inside the Masonic Hall in Rosemary Street Belfast. The Botanic Gardens, Queen’s University, Strangford Harbour, The Docklands, and The Mournes all feature among the filming set locations.
It’s fiction in more ways that just the story. It’s edge of the seat viewing, and be prepared for some major plot twists.
Photo credits BBC Bloodlands Drama Series & Google Maps
