18 new productions in the works | Made in Liverpool

In the twelve months since scripted dramas first embarked on shooting under rigorous new production guidelines, Liverpool has hosted thousands of film crew, and some of the biggest film stars on the planet – and now we get to wait – and watch.

We’ve put a list together of (most) of the productions to have been made in Liverpool City Region between 2020 and 2021 that will be coming to your screens – and cinemas soon.

For everything coming out in 2022 – click here.

1. Help

It finally happened…Scouse royalty Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham teamed up for a new one-off, state-of-the-nation drama for Channel 4, set in a fictional Liverpool care home during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic last Spring.

Penned by Jack Thorne; Help reunites Stephen and Jodie following their work together on BBC’s Good Cop, but also reunites Comer with something we’ve not heard on screen since 2012 – her Scouse accent!

Release date: 16 September | 9pm
Where to watch: Channel 4 / All4

Find the trailer, details on the cast and more here,

2. The Ipcress File

The Ipcress File, featuring Len Deighton’s iconic British spy, Harry Palmer, once made famous by Michael Caine, is getting a six-part high-end TV adaptation for ITV, with leading man, Joe Cole, who returns since having filmed Peaky Blinders in Liverpool, taking on the mantle.

Bringing the high-octane action to the street of Liverpool earlier this year to double as 1960s London, and Croatia for scenes in Berlin, The Ipcress File is an enthralling and atmospheric espionage thriller also starring Lucy Boynton and Tom Hollander.

Release date: TBA
Where to watch: ITV / ITV Hub

 

3. The Responder

Another production featuring Liverpool…as Liverpool!

Written by ex-police officer, Tony Schumacher and made by Dancing Ledge Productions (The Salisbury Poisonings), The Responder stars Martin Freeman as Chris, a crisis-stricken, morally compromised, unconventional urgent response officer tackling a series of night shifts on the beat in Liverpool.

 

4. The Almond and The Seahorse

Made by Wirral’s Mad As Birds Films, The Almond and The Seahorse is a feature film adaptation of the acclaimed stage play. Following an archaeologist and an architect as they fight to re-imagine a future after a traumatic brain injury leaves them adrift from the people they love.

Filmed across Wirral and Liverpool, the movie will see Wilson taking on her first non-comedy film role.

Release date: TBA
Where to watch: In cinemas

 

5. Doctor Who

If you could travel to anywhere at any time, where would you go? The Doctor chose Liverpool, naturally. BBC’s landmark science fiction series filmed scenes across the city’s iconic locations, with Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill returning, as well as being joined by a new character, Dan, played by Liverpool’s own celebrated comedian, John Bishop.

Release date: TBA
Where to watch: BBC One / BBC iPlayer

6. Peaky Blinders

The global phenomenon that is Peaky Blinders returned to Liverpool for its final series, with the city now having hosted all six series of the BAFTA-winning period crime drama. It’s only fitting that Liverpool legend Stephen Graham joins Cillian Murphy and the star-studded cast before the “story will continue in another form,” with hopes for an epic feature film finale.

Release date: TBA
Where to watch: BBC One / BBC iPlayer

 

7. Top Boy

Famously revived by Canadian rapper, Drake, Netflix’s second series of the British crime drama, Top Boy arrives later in 2021 with the latest series venturing outside of London with some small scenes filmed in Liverpool.

Release date: Later in 2021
Where to watch: Netflix

 

8. Ridley Road

Ridley Road is a thriller set against the backdrop of a swinging sixties London, in an East End world where far right fascism is on the rise. Liverpool’s St George’s Quarter stood in for Trafalgar Square in January, with Realtime VFX (The War Of The Worlds) completing the transformation in post-production.

Watch the trailer for Ridley Road below.

Release date: Later in 2021
Where to watch: BBC One / BBC iPlayer

 

9. COBRA: CYBERWAR

Following the success of Sky’s first series of COBRA: CYBERWAR picks up in the aftermath of both solar and political storms, where Prime Minister Robert Sutherland (Robert Carlyle) attempts to steer the country on a more even course.

COBRA filmed extensively inside Martin’s Bank Building in Liverpool city centre, as well as a significant shoot on the promenade in New Brighton, Wirral for a sandstorm scene.

Release date: Autumn 2021
Where to watch: Sky One / NOW

 

10. Bolan’s Shoes

A music-centric movie filmed in Liverpool – what’s not to love? Starring renowned British actor Timothy Spall and versatile Scouse actress Leanne Best, filming is currently underway in Liverpool on Bolan’s Shoes, featuring the timeless original music by pioneers of the glam rock movement, Marc Bolan’s T. Rex. The movie isn’t a biopic of T. Rex, but is set in the band’s ’70s heyday and seems to contain echoes of their story.

Release date: TBA
Where to watch: In cinemas

 

11. Still So Awkward

CBBC’s hit show, So Awkward, gets a Liverpool-based reboot for its seventh series. Produced by Channel X, the award-winning children’s sitcom enters a new era in its seventh run as lead, Lily, played by Cleo Demetriou takes on a new challenge in a move to university in Liverpool.

Where to watch: Now available on CBBC and BBC iPlayer

 

12. The Batman

Liverpool is Gotham City – it’s official. After production was put on pause in March last year, Warner Bros returned to take over the city in superhero style in October, this time under strict COVID protocols.

Director, Matt Reeves, chose Liverpool because he “wanted it to feel like an American city you’d never been to.”  Using the city’s landmarks; St George’s Hall and Royal Liver Building for their Gothic architecture, production will then add a modern Gotham skyline through CG in post-production.

Release date: March 2022
Where to watch: In cinemas

 

13. Munich – The Edge of War

A British diplomat travels to Munich in the run-up to World War II, where a former classmate of his from Oxford is also en route, but is working for the German government.

Liverpool stood in for scenes set in Germany and London for the Netflix spy thriller, based on the international bestseller by Robert Harris, Munich, stars Jeremy Irons as British PM, Neville Chamberlain, alongside Jannis Niehwöhner and George MacKay.

Release date: 2021
Where to watch: Netflix

 

14. Stay Close

Producers of It’s A Sin and the team behind hit Netflix Original series; The Stranger have reunited to make another complex and bingeworthy drama; an adaptation of Harlan Coben’s novel of the same name. Stay Close is the story of three people with comfortable lives who each conceal dark secrets that even the closest to them would never suspect.

Based in Manchester and across the North West, RED Production Company have shot at some of Liverpool City Region’s spectacular locations including Formby Beach, St Helens’ Dream and Halton’s Silver Jubilee Bridge.

Release date: TBA
Where to watch: Netflix

 

15. The Tower

ITV’s three-part crime thriller began production in April this year, with Gemma Whelan (Game of Thrones) in the lead role. Based on Post Mortem, the first in Kate London’s Metropolitan series of novels, The antagonistic relationship between the experienced Detective Sergeant Sarah Collins and the novice cop Lizzie Adama is at the heart of The Tower, as Collins investigates the mystery of what happened on the roof of the tower that led to two grisly deaths.

Release date: TBA
Where to watch: ITV / ITV Hub

 

16. Daliland

Although filming for Daliland went under the radar – the film itself will be anything but. Following the later life of the eccentric Spanish artist Salvador Dalí, and his wife, Gala, who lived in a New York hotel between the 1960s – 70s.

Dalí is played by Oscar winner Sir Ben Kinglsey, who is no stranger to inhabiting larger-than-life characters, similarly to Liverpool’s iconic Adelphi Hotel, standing in for New York’s historic St Regis.

Release date: TBA
Where to watch: In cinemas

 

17. Rules Of The Game

BBC One has completed filming on Rules of the Game, a new thriller set to explore sexual politics in the workplace. Filmed across the North West including Halton; inspired by the Harvey Weinstein abuse scandal that sparked the #MeToo movement, this four-part series stars Maxine Peake as Sam, the head of a family-run company in the North West of England who bristles at criticism and is resistant to change.

Release date: 2022
Where to watch: BBC One / BBC iPlayer

 

18. Time

OK so we’re cheating slightly as this has already been released in the UK, but Time really is worth mentioning. BAFTA-winning screenwriter, Jimmy McGovern’s highly-acclaimed prison drama, gets its US release on streaming service, Britbox later this year.

Starring two of Britain’s biggest on-screen talents, Sean Bean and Stephen Graham, Time is a visceral, emotional and high-stakes portrayal of life in a British prison.

Listen to our podcast with Jimmy McGovern here.

Release date: Out now (UK) / Coming soon (USA)
Where to watch: BBC iPlayer / Britbox

 

2nd most filmed UK city

It’s not just been the busiest time for filming in Liverpool – but our iconic locations have been the playground for some of film & TV’s most iconic characters…Batman, The Doctor, Tommy Shelby all filmed scenes in the city for their respective titles – or perhaps for the biggest crossover film in history?!

Can’t wait for your fix of Liverpool on screen? Discover more titles to have filmed in Liverpool on our Filmography here.