8 Filming Locations of Classic Brit Flicks

Osborne House, Isle of Wight

Victoria and Abdul (2017) starring Judi Dench and Ali Fazal was not only filmed at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, but this is also where the real life story played out. The film is based on the unlikely friendship between Queen Victoria and her young Muslim servant Abdul Karim. It was the first time that Osborne House, Queen Victoria's holiday home, had been used as a filming location.

Somerset House, London

The quintessentially London Somerset House might seem like an unlikely stand-in for a Russian town square, but this is exactly what it did in Goldeneye (1995) in the James Bond film series. It also popped up in Spectre (2015) and as the Ministry of Defence in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). But it's not just the Bond films that have capitalized on the building's impressive neoclassical courtyard, it also serves as an ideal window to the past and has appeared in Sherlock Holmes (2009) and in a flashback scene set at a Swiss bank in 1962 in X-Men: First Class (2011).

Gabriel's Wharf, London

A bench situated on Gabriel's Wharf on the South Bank was the location of one of Love Actually's most heart-wrenching scenes. It's here that Daniel (Liam Neeson) and Sam (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) discuss "the total agony of being in love". If you navigate further along on Street View, you'll find the Oxo Tower Wharf, where a distraught Mark (Andrew Lincoln) walks off his embarrassment after Juliet (Kiera Knightly) discovers that he spent her entire wedding filming close-up shots of her face.

Paddington Station, London

The ornate Eiffel-style ironwork and Edwardian roof of Paddington station is of course where a certain young Peruvian bear hops off a train in 2014's Paddington. The film is based on the book series by Michael Bond, who was inspired after he noticed a lonely teddy bear sitting on a shelf in a shop nearby the station. There is now even a Paddington statue on one of the platforms paying tribute to the landmark British cultural hero that came to life there.

The Globe Pub, Borough, London

The titular leading lady from the Bridget Jones's Diary series (2001-2016) lives in a flat above The Globe pub in Borough. External scenes from the movie were filmed in the surrounding area, including in Borough Market where Bridget (Renée Zellweger) bought the ingredients to make her infamous blue soup. Across the road from the entrance to the building, shops were transformed into the cab office, a newsagent, and the Greek restaurant where Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) and Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) had their outrageous fist fight. Other films that have been filmed in the area include Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Howard's End (1992), and Entrapment (1999).

St Pancras Station, London

Although Harry and his schoolmates head to Kings Cross Station to board the train to Hogwarts, it's actually St Pancras station that is used to represent the home of Platform 9 3/4 in the Harry Potter films. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Ron (Rupert Grint) can be seen driving up to the station in the magical Ford Anglia, and later flying past the clock tower seen below.

Kenwood House, London

The stately home Kenwood House has appeared in numerous period dramas, such as Sense and Sensibility (1995) and Mansfield Park (1999). However, it's most famous role was in the more modern Notting Hill (1999), where Hugh Grant's William comes to visit Julia Robert's actress character who aptly, is filming a scene in a period drama there.

Westminster Bridge, London

The most iconic scene from Danny Boyle's post-apocalyptic movie 28 Days Later is when Cillian Murphy's character walks across a deserted Westminister Bridge. London has been ravaged by zombies, and all that's left is strewn debris and upturned buses – a harrowing sight. It's very difficult to get permits to shut down such central locations in London for filming, so these scenes were shot under very limited conditions: most had to be done at a very early hour on a summer morning just as the sun was rising, to avoid traffic and pedestrians.