Where was The Long Call filmed? Locations in Bristol and North Devon revealed

25 October 2021, 18:00

The Long Call filming locations have been revealed including Ilfracombe, Croyde and Hartland.

If you’re looking for a gritty new drama to get stuck into, ITV is back with The Long Call.

The series is adapted from the best-selling novel of the same title from award-winning writer Ann Cleeves.

It follows the story of Matthew (Ben Aldridge) who was brought up in the Barum Brethren before leaving to go to University.

• Hollington Drive cast: Who is in the ITV drama and where have you seen them before?
• Angela Black cast: Who is in the ITV drama with Joanne Froggatt and where have you seen them before?
• The Larkins cast: Who is in the ITV drama with Bradley Walsh and where have you seen them before?

He later returns to his town to grieve for his father and lead a shocking murder investigation.

But where was The Long Call filmed? Here’s what you need to know about the North Devon filming locations…

Where was The Long Call filmed?

The show was predominantly filmed in Bristol and North Devon.

The cast spent seven weeks shooting the interior scenes in Bristol, before spending three weeks shooting all the exterior scenes across North Devon.

In Devon, film crews were spotted on Ilfracombe Pier, as well as Oxford Grove Long Stay car park and Hele Bay.

Director Lee Haven Jones, told us that he wanted to make ‘something visually and tonaly distinctive’.

Speaking to Heart and other press, he said: “We looked at how visual artists had depicted North Devon over the years.

“Then we injected it with subtle colour and control, there’s inspiration in the landscape itself and this is the central idea in a piece.

“There is a conversation between two very different worlds.”

Where was the baptism scene filmed in The Long Call?

There is a particularly poignant scene in the series which sees a baptism take place on the coast.

The scene was filmed at Hartland Point in North Devon, with director Lee revealing the cast and crew ran into a lot of problems.

He said: “We experienced four seasons in one day and tried to baptise the character four times.

“At first the sea wasn’t far enough in, then the sea was far too choppy, but the sun came out and it was glorious in the end.

“We had to embrace all of those variables and make the most of it.”

Lee later added: “Filming by the sea always causes problems and in North Devon it is far more remote and far more rugged.”

Referencing the baptism, Martin Shaw - who plays spiritual Brethren leader Dennis - said: “I was up to my chest in the sea with the waves coming backwards and forwards and it was cold and the weather was quite wild.

“But I couldn’t get enough of it, it was so primal and exciting, it’s a very beautiful place.”

Actor Ben also described this scene as his ‘favourite location’ with the waves crashing around him.

The star added: “I used to live in Exeter so it was all very familiar to me, you think of Devon as a picture postcard, but it’s so rugged and so atmospheric.”