This year’s unprecedented increase in made-in-Bristol TV shows is set to continue into 2022 as production companies head to the city to use it as a backdrop for dramas and its studios continue to attract new programmes.
There was a 225% increase in drama production in the city on pre-pandemic levels, with 13 productions alone underway in the first quarter of the 20/21 financial year. 
The latest to hit the small screen will be gripping BBC One thriller The Girl Before, which was filmed entirely in Bristol earlier this year, including at The Bottle Yard Studios in Hengrove and on locations across the city, assisted by the city council-owned Bristol Film Office.
Featuring a cast led by international stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw and David Oyelowo, it begins on Sunday.
It kicks off a host of filmed-in-Bristol shows over the festive period, ranging from Doctor Who: Eve of the Daleks (BBC One) and A Discovery of Witches series 3 (Sky Max/NOW TV) to Tipping Point Lucky Stars Festive Special (ITV/RDF Television).
This wraps up a year in which Bristol has also hosted The Outlaws, pictured below, the comedy thriller made by multi-award-winning – and Hanham-born – writer and director Stephen Merchant, and season two of Sanditon.
Senior Bristol film manager Laura Aviles said: “2021 was a hugely busy year for film and TV production in Bristol.
“We welcomed an unprecedented number of dramas to film at The Bottle Yard Studios and the many diverse locations supported by Bristol Film Office.
“We’ve seen more of the city portraying itself on screen, hosting memorable performances from the likes of Christopher Walken, who walked Bristol’s streets (and painted over a Banksy), Celine Buckens, who gave us the character we loved to hate in Showtrial’s Talitha Campbell, and Lesley Sharp as Bristol-based detective Hannah Laing in the gritty fast-paced Before We Die. 
“Teen spy Alex Rider, The Doctor, Daleks and many more have filmed at A Bond warehouse and we’ve seen Top Gear confirm its move to Bristol.
“2022 will be the year of The Bottle Yard’s expansion, as we add three new stages to our studio offering thanks to £11.8m investment from the West of England Combined Authority.
“We look forward to another year assisting Bristol’s production sector on its journey from strength to strength.”
The production team for The Girl Before, made for BBC One and HBO Max by award-winning company 42 (The English Game, Watership Down, The Courier), based its operations at The Bottle Yard Studios.
Bespoke interior sets were built for One Folgate Street, the drama’s main location, an austere London apartment belonging to charming and successful architect Edward Monkford (David Oyolewo), while an exterior façade was built at the end of Woodland Terrace, off Hampton Road in Redland, Bristol.
The Film Office assisted with this and other locations during April and May, including in the Georgian surrounds of Queen Square, the Corn Exchange offices above St Nicholas’ market, at the University of Bristol’s Badock Hall and Stoke Bishop Estate.
The Girl Before producer Rhonda Smith said: “The Girl Before required a build space with dimensions that would allow us to construct a two-storey house, which was quite a challenge to find. 
“The Film Office and Bottle Yard Studios stepped in at the twelfth hour and helped facilitate the shoot to run smoothly, both in the studio and at our various Bristol locations, in challenging times.”
The four-part drama tells the story of Jane (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who gets the chance to move into a beautiful, ultra-minimalist house designed by an enigmatic architect (David Oyelowo). There’s just one catch: the occupants must abide by his list of exacting rules.
The Girl Before begins this Sunday, December 19, at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer. Episodes will continue nightly throughout the week in the same time slot with the final episode on Wednesday.
Doctor Who – Eve of the Daleks, which is at 7pm on New Year’s Day, was part-filmed in Bristol’s A Bond Warehouse earlier this year, while A Discovery of Witches (season three), which was part-filmed in Bristol, with interior and exterior scenes shot on Berkeley Square in Clifton, begins on January 7. Tipping Point Lucky Stars Festive Special, at 3.55pm on Christmas Eve, was filmed at The Bottle Yard Studios.
Pictured, top: Clockwise from top left: The Girl Before (BBC One/HBO Max), Doctor Who: Eve of the Daleks (BBC One), A Discovery of Witches series 3 (Sky Max/NOW TV), Tipping Point Lucky Stars Festive Special (ITV/RDF Television).
Centre: The Outlaws. BBC, Amazon, Big Talk, Four Eyes
Above: Clockwise from top left: Chloe (BBC One/Amazon), Becoming Elizabeth (Starz), Extinction (Sky Max/NOW TV), Sanditon season 2 (BritBox UK/ /Masterpiece)
