Famous landmarks (think the Bond franchise), picturesque streets (hello, Bridgerton) and stunning university cities such as Oxford and Cambridge have helped portray Britain as a hazy, delightful and utterly beautiful country to audiences around the world.
In 1999, Notting Hill showcased the leafy, upmarket London neighbourhood to cinemagoers everywhere.
More recently, Saltburn (2023) put Drayton House, a Grade I-listed Northamptonshire mansion, firmly in the spotlight.
But beneath Britain’s glossy on-screen image lies a darker, dingier reality – at least, when it comes to the locations chosen to bring some of our best-loved films and TV shows to life.
Across the country, filmmakers have turned everything from derelict industrial sites and bleak council estates to abandoned Tube stations and uninviting underpasses into backdrops for dreary, dystopian and downright dangerous worlds.
Join us as we explore Britain’s grittiest filming locations – and discover how some of the country’s least glamorous spots have become cinematic stars in their own right.
Dystopian lake
Southmere Lake was used for the Flat Block Marina scenes in Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange (1971) is a classic dystopian film
WHERE? Southmere Lake, Thamesmead (London)
FILM(S): A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Few movies epitomise the dystopian genre like A Clockwork Orange, and its famous filming location is all doom and gloom.
Southmere Lake in Thamesmead served as the backdrop for a futuristic society in the classic film.
The 'Flat Block Marina' is undergoing development, with the final traces of the film slowly disappearing in favour of new flats.
Dreary car park scenes
Trinity Square car park in Gateshead was made famous by the cult gangster film, Get Carter
The iconic film followed the story of a London mob enforcer
WHERE? Trinity Square Car Park, Gateshead
FILM(S): Get Carter (1971)
Michael Caine starred as Jack Carter, a London mob enforcer who travels to Newcastle in this 1971 gangster film.
Carter's investigating his brother's suspicious death in the city – and the Trinity Square Car Park in Gateshead featured so heavily in the film that it adopted the nickname 'Get Carter' car park.
It's perhaps best recognised as the location from where Caine's character threw the villain from the roof.
In the years since the film's release, the Brutalist multi-storey car park has been demolished, with a new retail development springing up in its place.
'Hell hole' council estate
Aylesbury Estate is prominent in British film and television
Michael Caine starred in Harry Brown, srt in London
WHERE? Aylesbury Estate, London
FILM(S): Harry Brown (2009), Attack the Block (2011), Spooks (2002-11), The Bill (1984-2010)
Aylesbury Estate is one of the most recognisable estates in the UK, thanks to its appearance in a handful of films and TV series.
In fact, so commonly used is it that residents have even hit out in the past at its usage on the big screen.
Jean Bartlett, who spoke on behalf of the Aylesbury Residents and Tenants Association, told BBC Radio 4's Front Row in 2012: 'I think that over time it was the same subjects being used.... violence, drugs and run-down areas, which then portrayed the estate as a hell-hole.'
Harry Brown, The Bill and Spooks have all seen scenes filmed there.
A road underpass
Trinity Road underpass at the roundabout next to Wandsworth Bridge
WHERE? Wandsworth Roundabout Underpass
FILM(S): A Clockwork Orange (1971)
'Beneath South London's Wandsworth Bridge lies an uninviting and sinister-looking underpass,' says Atlas Obscura.
'Despite its shabby appearance, it's actually a cinematic landmark because of an appearance in the classic science-fiction film A Clockwork Orange.'
The Brutalist style mimicked the dystopian air of the film, making it a perfect destination for filming scenes in Kubrick's classic.
A Yorkshire village with a 'grime'-y name
Piece Hall in Halifax and Grimethorpe locations featured in Brassed Off
Scenes from Brassed Off
WHERE? Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire
FILM(S): Brassed Off (1996)
British 1996 comedy Brassed Off was largely filmed in this Yorkshire village.
Set in 'Grimley' (a thin cover for 'Grimethorpe'), it's a mining village that was named as the poorest village in the UK in 1994 by the EU.
Many scenes were filmed here, at destinations such as the local chip shop and supermarket.
Meanwhile, the Piece Hall in Halifax was used for the brass band championship scenes.
Abandoned tube station
Up next in terms of un-glamorous filming locations is an abandoned tube station
V for Vendetta used the location
WHERE? Aldwych Tube Station
FILM(S): V for Vendetta (2005), Atonement (2007), The Darkest Hour (2017), Sherlock (2010-2017)
Once an active Tube station and terminus for the Piccadilly line, Aldwych Station opened in 1907.
It closed down in 1994, leaving two platforms, a ticket hall and interconnecting tunnels barren of passengers and trains.
The site has officially reopened again – but not for its originally intended use. Intrigued visitors can step back inside the station's doors and tour its abandoned walkways with the London Transport Museum.
Original advertising posters have been left behind frozen in time, and guests can even step inside the original 1907 lifts.
It has been used as the backdrop for a number of films, the most high-profile likely V for Vendetta starring Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving.
Less luxurious London
The Barbican development in the heart of the City of London and its surrounding areas provide a Brutalist, gritty backdrop to Slow Horses
Bunhill Fields Burial Ground also features in the series
Parts of TV series Slow Horses were filmed in and aorund East London
WHERE? Around Barbican
FILM(S): Slow Horses (2022-present)
Beloved TV show Slow Horses was filmed in London – but not the glossy side.
Filmed in and around Barbican, with Slough House headquarters on Aldersgate Street to be precise, it features Brutalist landmarks, standard London streets and local cafes.
Rubbish bags can be seen on the street, as reported by CNN, and you can even book walking tours of the area.
Bunhill Fields Burial Ground also features, a cemetery and garden just outside the City of London.
'After leading this tour for nearly three years, it still tickles me that Slow Horses fans travel from all around the world to come to London and look at some dustbins. The books and TV series describe the Slough House neighbourhood as dingy and depressing, and that's often what overseas visitors expect,' tour guide Square Mile Secrets says.
'I admire their dedication, and it's lovely being able to show them that the area is actually really nice after all.'
Tobacco warehouse
Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse joins the list
TV shows such as Peaky Blinders portray the industrial landscape
WHERE? Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse
FILM(S): House of Guinness (2025), Peaky Blinders (2013-2022)
'Big-budget movie and television productions have been filmed at Stanley Dock due to its visually appealing and distinctive 1850s Victorian red-brick buildings and cobbled streets that can double as New York with little effort; and as an inland dock it's easy to lock down for filming purposes,' Stanley Dock reveals.
Peaky Blinders, The Ruby in the Smoke and Captain America: The First Avenger are among these.
While the concept of a tobacco warehouse may not sound charming, the Liverpool landmark is actually a Grade-II listed industrial hub that is being redeveloped, so in real life its gritty allure is more swish and upmarket.
A now-demolished gas works
Beckton Gas Works, London, has featured in a number of films
WHERE? Beckton Gas Works, London
FILM(S): Full Metal Jacket (1987), For Your Eyes Only (1981), The Cement Garden (1993)
A derelict gasworks was used to stand in as a range of decrepit locations across several films.
In Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, the decaying site was used to film the location of a war-torn city during the Vietnam war.
Elsewhere, it was used for shooting some of the pre-credits sequence for Bond film For Your Eyes Only, emphasising an ambience of despair.
The bleak, industrial landscape also served as the creepy backdrop for The Cement Garden, a film about four orphaned children grappling with troubling circumstances.
The gasworks closed in 1976, and is currently undergoing plans for redevelopment – which aim to include 2,900 new homes, a new riverside park, open spaces, and a mix of commercial and community uses.