BY ALEXIA JAMES
For decades, if you wanted to see the British countryside on screen, you had to sit through yet another dreary adaptation of a Thomas Hardy novel, all doom and gloom and women in bonnets looking miserable in the rain. But something rather wonderful has happened. The boot is now on the other foot, and our green and pleasant land has become the most sought-after leading lady in Hollywood.
One has had quite enough of superheroes smashing up anonymous American cities. Give me the windswept Yorkshire moors any day. And thankfully, the streaming giants and film studios seem to agree. We are in the midst of a full-blown love affair with the British countryside, and 2026 is shaping up to be the year it well and truly steals the show.
Take Emerald Fennell’s new film, Wuthering Heights. Love it or loathe it—and the debates are still raging—you cannot fault the way it captures the North Yorkshire landscape. The mist doesn’t just roll in; it descends with theatrical intent. The sunsets look like something painted by Turner. Fennell herself had the good sense to let nature take centre stage, saying early on that she wanted the landscape to invade the story. The result is pure magic, and the Yorkshire Dales National Park is bracing itself for a tourism boom. If you haven’t visited Haworth lately, I’d get there before the coach parties arrive.
But here’s the thing. This isn’t just about one film. The latest series of ‘Bridgerton’ has sent house prices in Bath into orbit, with everyone desperate to sashay down those honey-hued Georgian terraces as if they’re about to be presented at court. The upcoming ‘Hamnet’ adaptation showcases Weobley in Herefordshire, with its perfectly preserved black-and-white timber buildings looking exactly as they did in Shakespeare’s day. Even Guillermo del Toro, the great Gothic fantasist, has been sneaking about Edinburgh’s Royal Mile and Glasgow Cathedral, using our Scottish wilderness to stand in for nineteenth-century Bavaria.
Why is everyone suddenly flocking to our shores? Well, I spoke to some chaps in the know, and it’s not just because our hedgerows are pretty. There’s cold, hard commercial sense behind it.
First, we have the landscapes. The UK offers a really diverse range of locations, some instantly recognisable, but many that can double as different places. Cornwall can be France. A farm in Surrey can appear in both War Horse and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Second, and this will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever tried to get a plumber on a Bank Holiday Monday, we Brits have the infrastructure. There’s something deeply comforting about knowing that even when the weather turns nasty, as it inevitably does, someone will arrive with a proper set of chains and a can-do attitude.
And third, there’s the small matter of money. The tax rebates on offer are generous—around 25 per cent on production costs, and even more for independent films. The government finally did something sensible last year and introduced enhanced incentives for smaller productions, meaning they can claim back nearly 40 per cent.
Of course, none of this would matter if the stories themselves weren’t any good. But there’s a refreshing sense of reinvention about these new adaptations. They’re not dusty museum pieces. They’re updating centuries-old tales with modern sensibilities. Love and lust are scored by Charli XCX. Medieval horror stories are being reinterpreted through a contemporary lens. And colour-blind casting is breathing new life into eighteenth-century romances. As Seccombe observed, “When Bridgerton blew up, there was a stream of other period dramas that got commissioned. And now it feels like we’re back again.”
With the new Harry Potter series on the horizon, Greta Gerwig’s take on Narnia, and Sam Mendes making films about The Beatles, our countryside isn’t going to be vacating its top billing anytime soon. It’s about time, too. For too long, we’ve let the Americans have all the fun with their deserts and their canyons. Now the world is waking up to what we’ve always known: that there is nowhere on earth quite like the British countryside. It’s beautiful, it’s versatile, and it’s ours. Let’s just hope they remember to close the gates when they’ve finished filming.