Film and TV
Many and varied are Oxford and Oxfordshire's film and TV locations. Sometimes the place is as important as the main characters in the series (as Oxford in Morse and Lewis), at other times it's an unnoticed setting for the action (Blenheim Palace in Harry Potter).
Here are some suggestions for exploring the area's film/TV connections:
- Discover the real Hogwarts Hall at Christ Church
- Don't try to borrow a book from Duke Humfrey's (Hogwarts) library
- Decide if the Pitt Rivers Museum inspired Diagonal Alley
- See where Morse 'died' in Exeter College
- Or take tea in the Morse bar at the Randolph Hotel
- Check out James Bond's alma mater (New College in Tomorrow Never Dies)
- Picture yourself in opulent Brideshead Revisited at Hertford College
- Or buy a book in Blackwell's bookshop on Broad Street - another Morse haunt
- Look out for Golden Compass locations in Oxford eg Exeter and Queen's College
- Walk up the river to the Trout at Wolvercote (a favourite Morse pub) - and back down the canal
- Visit Blenheim Palace - recently the setting for Young Victoria and Gulliver's Travels, also Barry Lyndon, Black Beauty, Entrapment, The Legend of Tarzan, ...and many more
- Count the number of Midsomer Murders locations you recognise: for example Oxford's Botanic Garden, Wallingford, Thame, Henley - as well as many small villages
Books on sale in the Oxford Visitor Information Centre or online shop describe film locations at visitor attractions outside Oxford, focusing on Midsomer Murders, Morse and Lewis and Harry Potter.
- You can download free Film Trails at the Location Oxfordshire's website.
- Follow ‘Midsomer County' trails, which pass through Midsomer countryside in South Oxfordshire. These trails pass through towns and villages used as filming locations within the Midsomer Murders TV series. The trails are meant as a taster, showing a range of things to see and enjoy, and not meant as a definitive guide to the TV series.
- Southern Trail, taking in Causton Playhouse and Badgers Drift Primary School, as well as opportunities to enjoy manor houses, village pubs, museums, river trips and a steam railway.
- Northern Trail, taking in Midsomer Newton Museum and Causton Library, as well as a series of pubs, churches and shops filmed for the series; with options to visit the gardens and nature reserves set in the Midsomer countryside.
- Or you could take one of the Oxford Film Sites Themed walking tours from the Oxford Tourist Information Centre.
Inspector Morse/Lewis walking tours run from the Oxford Tourist Information Centre every Saturday at 1.30pm with additional tours on Mondays between March and September at 1.30pm. Booking ahead online is advisable.
