New Netflix drama Bodies filmed at these Bradford locations

When a man’s body is discovered in the backstreets of Whitechapel, questions are raised. Who is he? How was he murdered? Why is there a bullet hole in his eye but no bullet to be found?

Not one but four detectives are grappling with the question. But they are unaware of each another’s existence - because they are operating centuries apart.

When it came to filming Bodies - a murder mystery spanning 150 years - Bradford, with its historic streets and mill buildings, was the perfect choice.

In the summer of 2022 the cast and crew of the major new Netflix drama spent several weeks filming in the district. Locations included Lister Mills, City Hall, Salts Mill and Burnett Street in Little Germany.

Filming in Little Germany (Image: Newsquest)

The film shoots included night scenes, with huge lights installed at Lister Mills. Actors were spotted dressed in battle armour and military fatigues, and a large crane, trucks, props and stunt cars appeared on the set.

Lister Mills appears as a 2050 location, described in the graphic novel as a London filled with “the last survivors of a terrifying techno-apocalypse”. Filming was focussed on the Beamsley Road side of the historic Manningham mill complex.

David Wilson, former director of Bradford UNESCO City of Film, told the T&A last year: “We’ve been working to support Netflix on this production for almost a year now and they’ve been using a warehouse in Little Germany as a studio base.

“It’s a great team to work with, they’re hugely impressed with all the locations the district has to offer and the continued support from the team at the Bradford Film Office.”

Based on Si Spencer’s acclaimed time-bending graphic novel of the same name, Bodies is an eight-part series starring Line of Duty and Boiling Point actor Stephen Graham.

It’s the story of four detectives trying to solve a murder in four different periods. There’s 1890s over achiever Edmond Hillinghead, played by Anna Karenina star Kyle Soller; dashing, slightly dodgy 1940s detective Karl Whiteman, played by The Queen’s Gambit star Jacob Fortune-Lloyd; Detective Sergeant Shahara Hasan from the 2010s, played by Amaka Okafor, who was in this year’s Greatest Days film; and Maplewood, an enigmatic amnesiac from post-apocalyptic 2050, played by Shira Haas from Netflix mini-series Unorthodox. Together, the four set out to uncover a conspiracy spanning 150 years.

Stephen Graham stars in an as-yet mysterious but central role.

Paul Tomalin, who adapted the “utterly insane and brilliant” novel for the series, says: “When I was approached and told: ‘We want to do this show that’s four different cops, one murder, but it’s the same body over four different timelines,’ I literally said: ‘Thanks but no thanks.’ As I walked away, I was like: ‘You’re an idiot’. Because the Jack the Ripper stuff, the Blitz stuff, the Line of Duty stuff, the future dystopia stuff -this was wild. The ingredients were too unique not to be bound together.”

What’s the significance of Whitechapel as the central location? “It’s baked into Si Spencer’s concept. Whitechapel is the definitive diaspora of London and Britain because of the way it has evolved as a melting pot over the 20th century. In 1890 it was the Irish immigration coming in and usurping it. Then in 1941 it was a Jewish population largely and there were all these antagonisms because of that. It’s just this fascinating place where the lens of the world is focused and all the conflicts play out.”

What was it like working on a show with four different leads and and simultaneous plot lines?

Says Amaka Okafor: “It’s really cool because it feels like a team sport. You feel like you’re sharing responsibility and everyone’s bringing such a different flavour. I’m really looking forward to seeing what everyone’s been up to.

Adds Jacob Fortune-Lloyd: “At times it feels in the making of it like you’re in your own story and it’s the only story. But then you have this wild knowledge that there’s this whole bigger world around you and this sort of invisible team.”

What sets this apart from other crime thrillers?

Amaka: “I’ve played a lot of police detectives for some reason. But this one, I know it’s a police drama but there’s just so much more to it than that. It becomes a million different things. And you’re a person trying to figure out this mind-bending puzzle. It’s about that quest.

Jacob: “There’s so much going on. It’s a mystery. It’s a puzzle. There’s a sci-fi element. In some ways it’s quite heady, all that stuff.

“But actually, it’s well-balanced with the heart of this show. Because despite all that stuff, it’s a show about love and particularly the absence of love and what happens when life gets contorted and twisted by an absence of love.”

The series explores anti-semetism, homophobia and misogyny through the lens of the police. Says Paul: “Each timeline deals with the bigotry of its time, and I don’t think it’s too controversial to say that institutions are often emblematic of that bigotry, be it hidden or more blatant.

“In terms of the future, you’ve got to heighten what you’ve got now and present it in a different light. So we heightened the element of diminished accountability, the risk of privatisation, the risk of technology-enhanced bigotry.”

Adds Amaka: “What I found really interesting is what Paul’s saying: that institutions are emblematic of what’s going on in society at the time.

“Like to be in the Met today and what somebody like Shahara would be up against: getting pulled in for particular cases because of her ethnicity, her religion, needing to look a certain way, being asked to put on a headscarf to be able to connect with a source.”

As well as Bradford, Bodies was shot in Leeds, Grimsby, Rotherham and Hull, transformed into 1940s London.

* Bodies is released on Netflix on October 19.