Love seeing Liverpool on the screen? Liverpool Film Office has compiled a handy round-up of television and films made on location in Liverpool City Region that you can stream, whatever your preferred service, to help get you through your isolation.
Peaky Blinders (Series 1-4) – Netflix
Home to arguably the show’s most important locations, the Producers of Peaky Blinderscame to Liverpool to recreate the Victorian industrial heartland and turn a living street into 1920s Birmingham, and have returned to film in new locations in Liverpool for all five series.
The wildly popular and BAFTA winning period crime drama follows the Shelbys, who lead the notorious Peaky Blinders, a criminal gang based in Birmingham in 1919.
Watch Peaky Blinders on Netflix
The Stranger – Netflix
When a stranger makes a shocking claim about his wife, family man Adam Price becomes entangled in a mystery as he desperately searches for answers.
Set and filmed predominantly in Manchester, the production also filmed some scenes in Liverpool.
Brookside – 4 On Demand
The infamous cul-de-sac, Brookside Close, became the epicentre of every conceivable (and inconceivable) storyline on television.
The ground-breaking Liverpool-based soap opera that first aired on Channel 4 in 1982 and ran for 21 years, produced by Liverpool’s own Lime Pictures and created by Phil Redmond.
Unfortunately all 2,915 episodes are not available to stream for free, but you can catch some of the classic episodes for free on Channel 4 On Demand!
Watch Brookside on 4 On Demand
The English Game – Netflix
The English Game, from Julian Fellowes arrives on Netflix as an answer to the football (and Downton Abbey) void in your schedule!
It’s only fitting that a football story visits a great footballing city. Liverpool provided the backdrop for numerous scenes in the new period drama, doubling for the grandeur of Edwardian London.
Discover the Liverpool locations of The English Game
Watch The English Game on Netflix
The Crown (Series 3) – Netflix
The British period drama and global success, The Crown follows the political rivalries and romance of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, and the events that shaped the second half of the 20thcentury.
The production filmed scenes in Liverpool in 2018 as theytransformed the streets outside Liverpool’s Three Gracesinto 1960s Washington, D.C.
Cilla – Britbox
Sheridan Smith stars in a critically acclaimed series, based on Cilla Black and her hometown of Liverpool, following her rise to fame from 1960 amateur appearances in clubs, and her relationships with Bobby Willis and the icons of music that shaped her career.
Utopia (Series 1) – Prime Video
After a group of people, who meet online, discover a bizarre graphic novel which seems to hold mysterious answers, they find themselves being tracked down by a merciless organisation known merely as ‘The Network’.
Set in London but filmed mostly in Merseyside and across North West England, this strikingly original drama earned an International Emmy Award for best drama in 2014.
Watch Utopia on Amazon Prime Video
Bulletproof (Series 1) – Sky/NOW TV
British police crime drama following the work of detectives and childhood friends Aaron Bishop and Ronnie Pike as they tackle organised crime in London’s East End.
Set in London but filmed almost entirely in Liverpool (Series 1), this action-packed Sky Original is inspired by classic buddy cop due films such as Lethal Weaponand Bad Boys.
COBRA – Sky/NOW TV
In a topical series, Robert Carlyle stars as the UK prime minister in a six-episode thriller set at the heart of government during a major national crisis.
Although the series takes a brief visit to Liverpool in the opening shots, it is key scenes inside Martins Bank (doubling as corridors outside the COBRA meeting room in London) that show off one of the city’s filming gems.
Little Boy Blue – Britbox
The incredibly moving four-part drama, Little Boy Bluefocuses on the murder of Rhys Jones in Croxteth, Liverpool in 2007. Stephen Graham was cast as Detective Superintendent Dave Kelly and Sinead Keenan and Brían F. O’Byrne were cast as Melanie and Steve Jones, respectively.
Watch Little Boy Blue on Britbox
Broken – Britbox
Father Michael (Sean Bean), a Catholic priest presiding over a Northern urban parish who is modern, maverick, and reassuringly flawed; must be confidant, counsellor and confessor to a congregation struggling to reconcile its beliefs with the challenges of daily life.
This series was filmed in Liverpool, with the featured church being St Francis Xavier Church, Everton.
The Feed – Prime Video
In the near future, people’s minds are connected to The Feed, giving them instant connectivity. When something or someone invades it, everyone is at risk. The Feed was filmed in Liverpool to double as London – look out for a chaotic scene by Liverpool’s Three Graces!
Watch The Feed on Amazon Prime Video
Moving On (Series 11) – BBC iPlayer
Created by legendary Liverpool Writer, Jimmy McGovern, this anthology series of daytime plays set in contemporary Britain, all share the theme of someone going through some kind of change in their life.
Produced by Liverpool’s LA Productions, the second longest Daytime Drama series on the BBC has filmed in Liverpool City Region for every series. Recently entering its 11thseries, all episodes are now available on BBC iPlayer.
Watch Jimmy McGovern’s Moving On on BBC iPlayer
Reg (2016) – Britbox
In June 2003, Reg Keys and his wife Sally return to their home in the Welsh countryside. As they switch on the TV to hear six military policemen have been murdered in Iraq, two men arrive bearing the terrible news that their son, Tom, was among them.
Starring Tim Roth as the titular character, with Anna Maxwell Martin, the film was made in Liverpool by Kirkdale-based LA Productions and is available to stream on BritBox.
Shirley Valentine (1989) – Sky/NOW TV
Oscar-nominated Pauline Collins is perfect as the bored housewife who’s had enough of her egg-and-chips lifestyle and chucks it all in for sun and fun on a Greek island. She’s not there to kick sand in her husband’s face, but then she meets a dark-and-handsome local charmer (Tom Conti). A refreshing and uplifting cocktail of laughs and romance.
Watch Shirley Valentine on NOW TV
Nowhere Boy (2009) – Prime Video
Nowhere Boyis the story of John Lennon’s childhood in Liverpool 1955: a smart and troubled fifteen year-old is hungry for experience. In a family full of secrets, two incredible women clash over John. Mimi the buttoned-up Aunt who raised him, and Julia, the prodigal mother.
Telling the story with the creation of his first band, the Quarrymen, and its evolution into The Beatles, this one is a must for music and film fans.
Watch Nowhere Boy on Amazon Prime Video
Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (2017) – BBC iPlayer
A tragic and touching film with Liverpool at its heart. Based on the memoir of the same name by Peter Turner, played by Jamie Bell, the film tells the story of his relationship with ageing Academy Award-winning Hollywood actress Gloria Grahame (Annette Bening) in 1970s Liverpool.
Although usually on Netflix, the film is temporarily available for free on BBC iPlayer!
Watch Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool on BBC iPlayer
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) – Disney Plus
Years before The Avengers, there was one man, Steve Rogers. A rejected military soldier transforms into Captain America after taking a dose of a “Super-Soldier serum”. But being Captain America comes at a price as he attempts to take down a war monger and a terrorist organisation.
Liverpool’s Stanley Dock stood in for a period Brooklyn New York, in scenes which saw Captain America pick up a shield for the first time, with a yellow taxi door.
Watch Captain America: The First Avenger on Disney Plus
Historic Footage – BFI Player
Want to see more of Liverpool AS Liverpool?
BFI Player is home to a range of free films, including many made in Liverpool throughout the years. From the earliest surviving Merseyside Derby on film, to MerseyBeat documentaries and historic scenes in the city, these archives have something for everyone.
