I’M heading down narrow stairs from the dock in Bradford’s old courtroom, following the footsteps of Keira Knightley and Tracy Barlow.
Passing the cells below, where Harry Houdini and the Peaky Blinders were locked behind bars, I emerge in a courtyard, in the heart of the city centre, although you’d never know it was here. High above is a small window, where Jim Broadbent made his escape after stealing the Duke of Wellington’s portrait.
Welcome to the Bradford Film Heritage Walk - a fascinating guided tour of locations that appear in some of our best-loved films and TV dramas. From Billy Liar to Gentleman Jack, Bradford has a proud history of lighting up big and small screen productions, and this 90-minute tour explores more than a century of filming in the city.
It was Bradford’s world-leading status in textiles that led to its film heritage; from the textile industry came engineering, leading to photography then film. An early pioneer in cinematography was Bradfordian Richard Appleton who, on June 22, 1897 screened the UK’s first-ever same-day newsreel - footage of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee procession in London - onto the former T&A building on Hall Ings, drawing around 200,000 spectators over several days.
We meet our tour guide, Bradford City of Film director David Wilson, outside the National Science and Media Museum - itself a significant part of Bradford’s film story, as home to Europe’s first IMAX screen which opened in 1984. We’re on a grassy bank where the city’s Palace Theatre once stood, and where the Lumiere Brothers, inventors of cinema, brought their film roadshow in 1896 - their first stop outside London. “That was the start of Bradford’s film history,” says David.
Prior to that, in 1887, French photographer Louis Le Prince had created brief moving images of horse-drawn traffic on Leeds Bridge - the world’s first film - and the camera used for his historic footage is now in the Media Museum. The museum has the only public cinema in the world where you can see Cinerama. Its Widescreen Weekend (October 13-16) celebrates large-screen formats and cinema technologies, with 70mm screenings and Cinerama restorations.
Looking up at the statue of Bradford’s JB Priestley, a screenwriter among many other things, we move on to the Cenotaph, where Tom Courtenay and Bingley actor Rodney Bewes larked about in John Schlesinger’s 1963 film of Billy Liar.
For David, this was the start of his love affair with film. When a schoolfriend invited him to see a black and white film from the Sixties, David wasn’t particularly enthusiastic, but he was quickly captivated by Billy Liar and its big screen images of places he recognised in his home city.
A short walk from the Cenotaph is another Bradford landmark, the former Odeon building, where, as a child, David queued with his mum to see Star Wars. Crowds queued round the block for weeks to see it in 1977.
We walk across to City Hall, home to a labyrinth of grand Victorian chambers and corridors which have appeared in many films and television dramas over the years. Peaky Blinders filmed several scenes there, sparking a huge interest in these heritage film tours from fans around the world.
“This Grade I listed building has doubled as many things,” David tells us, standing at the foot of the main staircase, where the Peaky Blinders crew once installed a giant Christmas tree. The courtroom was the Old Bailey in Keira Knightley film Official Secrets, and used earlier this year for killer Meena’s trial in Emmerdale, and a wood-panelled committee room was Rupert Grint’s office in The ABC Murders. David recalls arriving one day to find John Malkovich pacing up and down in a pair of trainers, rehearsing his lines as Hercule Poirot. The Lord Mayor’s rooms were used as a hotel room in Peaky Blinders - fans may recall a shirtless Cillian Murphy lying in bed here - and London’s Savile Club for Official Secrets. Also popular are the sweeping corridors of City Hall. David says location managers’ eyes light up at these atmospheric spaces; perfect for scenes in schools, police stations, hospitals. “Never underestimate corridors,” says David. “CGI is all very well, but directors love authentic period detail. These corridors are great for walking and talking scenes.”
He leads us into the grand council chamber, used as the House of Commons in BBC drama King Charles III and ITV period drama Victoria. If you look closely enough, smiles David, you can spot a low energy lightbulb in Victoria...
In the reception rooms, where a portrait of JB Priestley hangs above a stone fireplace, David shows us clips from productions filmed here, including Peaky Blinders, The Duke, Room at the Top, DCI Banks and National Treasure. There are great spin-offs for Bradford - when Bollywood movie Gold was shot here, cast and crew were in town for over three months, taking up 4,000 bed nights in local hotels.
Because City Hall is a workplace, the logistics of filming rely on a network of communication between council departments. Even the hourly bells are silenced when filming takes place. Discretion is key although, as David says, the location vans parked outside are often a giveaway that a film crew is in town.
The courtroom is often used for Emmerdale and Corrie - most memorably for Tracy Barlow’s murder trial - and from here we descend to the cells below, which held prisoners up to 1990. Outside is a courtyard once used by police vans and more recently as a prison exercise yard in Emmerdale. Looking up, we see a stained glass window from where Jim Broadbent fled the National Gallery in comedy heist The Duke.
Our last stop is the Bradford Club, a hidden gem in Piece Hall Yard. A time capsule of Victorian grandeur, it’s been in TV’s The ABC Murders and The Great Train Robbery. With its beautiful staircase, grand sitting-rooms and ornate billiard room, the club is a fine example of the period detail directors love in Bradford. Over tea and scones in the dining-room, I chat to Siobhan Kennedy-Cameron, who’s from Bradford and now lives in Canada, working in TV and film. She says: “When I was growing up there wasn’t much about filming in Bradford - now there’s a whole industry here, with work placements on sets for students in the city. It’s a great ambassador for Bradford.”
* The next Bradford Film Heritage Walk is June 30. Go to bradfordlitfest.co.uk/event/bradfords-film-heritage-walk
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