Bridgerton filming: ‘Castle Howard is a leading character of its own’ in Netflix period drama
Castle Howard’s visitor attraction director believed the stately home is a leading character in its own right after watching the first series of Bridgerton.
Castle Howard’s appearance on the first season of Bridgerton attracted visitors to the stately home from all over the world.
Its unique design makes it ‘memorable’ on screen and its fame took off when it was used as a filming location for Brideshead Revisited.
“I think it definitely does it justice and I’d say Castle Howard is a key leading character of its own,” Abbigail Ollive, visitor attraction director at Castle Howard, said.
“What you get on screen is the same as what visitors get when they walk around the corner and suddenly their eyes are drawn up towards the dome and it’s so impressive.
“The same when Daphne comes into the Great Hall for the first time looks up at the inside of the dome, the camera sweeps around, it really does manage to convey that sense of awe that our visitors get when they come to Castle Howard.
“Castle Howard always looks absolutely stunning on TV and on screen and I think it really does play its own part, it's a character.
“The amount of people who came to Castle Howard [did so] because they’ve seen it as an iconic location either on Bridgerton or Brideshead or multiple other things.
“It’s got such an iconic shape with the dome on top, it feels really memorable as a building.”
There are many aspects to filming these scenes that the viewers don’t know about.
“Instead of using the stars for the carriage [scene], they had a duplicate set of costumes and body doubles stand-ins for Daphne and the Duke who were with that second unit doing all of those horse and carriage shots,” Ms Ollive said.
“It’s really interesting when you watch back the first season and see all those lovely drone shots and the shots of the horse and carriage.
“I just enjoy watching it from a location perspective because I know what went into making that possible.
“You always know where you were; so if I watch season one, there are points where I know I was hiding behind that door at that point because I was busy monitoring the room.
“It does make it feel like you’re this big presence as a location. It won’t work without our team because they are the crucial liaison with the location managers, directors, art directors and directors of photography.”
The team at Castle Howard almost turned down the opportunity of filming due to its busy season at the time.
“As Castle Howard is a visitor attraction and it was in the middle of the summer, it was a really busy time with the crew here,” Ms Ollive said.
“As a location we’re not a full time set or film location so over 100 people land who are the crew, they set up the whole production village with all of their trailers and units and all of their people and departments.
“So I think suddenly as a visitor attraction in a quiet area of North Yorkshire, it does feel really exciting to suddenly have this team arrive.
“There were moments where they wanted Daphne to run out of the bedroom and there was a door they wanted her to run out of, on the other side of the door was an enormous bookcase, it wasn’t a real doorway.
“To try and make the shot work they have to work really closely with us as a location on all those bits of detail.
“It’s really special being able to watch it and know that whole extra layer of what was happening in the background.”