A POLICE thriller partly filmed in Saddleworth attracted more than 17 million viewers over its four episode run.
The Sun and Daily Express, among others, produced pieces for their readers during the airing of ITV drama Bancroft last month, mapping several shooting locations.
But while highlighting Bolton and Leeds as destinations for cast and crew, they failed to confirm Saddleworth as another key area for ‘lights, camera, action.’
However, the Independent exclusively revealed filming locations in and around Greenfield for our June 2016 edition.
We even managed to sneak into one of the scenes for the final cut!
So, for our readers who didn’t tune in to see Bancroft, played by W1A and Broadchurch star, Sarah Parish, here are some of the locally shot scenes.
Bancroft and her son (Adam Long) lived in Lower Frenches Drive off Chew Valley Road.
However, a scene in the opening episode where a petrol bomb is thrown through a window at her detached home by a drugs lord was created on a specially made set so no damage was done to the property.
There’s a panoramic shot of Dovestone Reservoir before Bancroft’s young colleague, Katherine Stevens, played by Faye Marsay, is seen knocking on the front door of what is supposed to be the home of former miner Len Dorman, dad of the murdered girl.
Getting no answer DS Stevens walks to the rear of the property plenty of viewers recognised as ‘Forty Row’ cottages at Hey Top.
Not so many, however, might have spotted a rather battered copy of the Independent on a table as she peered through a window.
She eventually comes across Len, played by Salfordian Steve Evets – a one-time member of Mancunian punk veterans The Fall.
The pair are regularly seen sat at the back of the cottages originally constructed for workers at Greenfield Mill, later Robert Fletcher’s Paper Mill.
The car park used by current Hey Top residents is also spotlighted as DS Stevens leaves to return to the police station.
Other members of a star studded cast included: Art Malik, Ade Edmondson, Lee Boardman and Linus Roache.
“The locations are a big star of this show and really important to the atmosphere,” said producer Phil Collinson.
“We have some big set pieces to add bursts of excitement. But on the whole it’s a really beautiful and considered production, all about the characters.”
There was mixed public reaction to the final scenes where Bancroft shot colleague DS Stevens to avoid being revealed as the perpetrator of the cold case mystery 27 years earlier.
However, the ending suggests there may be a sequel so look out for more actors in Saddleworth!
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