Over the years, Beamish Museum has appeared in everything from adverts and children’s television programmes to documentaries and even feature films!
We’ve had large drama crews, one man and his camera, documentary makers, children’s programmes, live outside broadcasts and podcasts – crews of all shapes and sizes.
Sometimes the programme is all about Beamish, sometimes we may just get a namecheck in the script or credits. And then there are the dramas… for them, we’re simply a unique, ready-made location, but to anyone who knows the museum, it’s a great opportunity for a bit of Beamish spotting!
Here’s a list of some of the many TV shows and films we’ve been a part of…
Inside Windsor Castle: A Royal Residence
The museum featured in Inside Windsor Castle: A Royal Residence, a six-part documentary which covered the history of Windsor Castle and showed how each monarch left their mark on the royal residence.
We featured in episode four of the series, which focused on the Second World War, and we welcomed television presenter JJ Chalmers to The 1940s Farm at the museum.
JJ Chalmers met our Lumberjills to find out more about the roles carried out by women during the war and had a go at the drag saw. During the Second World War, 1,000 acres of trees were felled in Windsor Great Park and, as it was wartime, most of this work was completed by women.
Lumberjills were expected to saw through three tons of timber a week and were one of the only groups of people to receive extra rations due to the intensity of the work.
Once the trees had been felled, the land was ready to be farmed by the Land Girls. JJ Chalmers spoke to one of the museum’s Land Girls about the kinds of jobs they would have carried out.
Inside Windsor Castle: A Royal Residence aired on Channel 5 and is available at www.channel5.com until August 2028.
Blue Peter
We welcomed the world’s longest-running children’s television programme, Blue Peter, to the museum as they stepped back in time for their Book Club.
The Blue Peter Book Club aims to share the joy of reading with the show’s young viewers. Each month, the show features a different book encouraging viewers to get in touch with their opinion. The book being discussed at the museum was You Are History by Greg Jenner which looks at the extraordinary history hidden within everyday objects including televisions, alarm clocks and toilets!
Presenter Shini Muthukrishnan and six young Blue Peter viewers donned Edwardian costume to travel back in time and complete history-themed challenges inspired by the book.
In The 1900s Pit Village school, the children were split into two teams, red and blue, and given a mystery object to identify – the blue team correctly guessed that the mystery item was a chamber pot and won the first point.
For the second challenge, the teams had to wash items of clothing using a poss tub and mangle – the first team to hang their clean pile of washing on the line would win the point. The blue team pipped the red, levelling the score.
They headed up to The 1940s Farm for the final challenge which saw the children work together to see which team could send the words Blue Peter in Morse code the fastest. The red team won the challenge, taking the final score to 2-1.
Volle Kanne
We were joined by German TV reporter and journalist Marina Wenk as she filmed a travel segment for Volle Kanne, a magazine show which airs on German public-service broadcaster ZDF.
While at the museum, Marina popped to Elizabeth’s Hairdresser’s to have her hair styled before hopping aboard a Beamish bus to explore the museum.
Marina said: “For more than eight years, I have been working as a reporter for the ZDF morning show Volle Kanne, presenting travel destinations all over Europe. For each region or city we visit, the team and I always try to put together a colourful program when planning the trip – a mixture of culture, architecture, culinary delights and, of course, we are always on the lookout for unusual activities that we want to present to the viewers.
“Over the years, we have visited many open-air museums as part of our film work, but when we read about Beamish, we knew that this museum was special. And it really is, as we experienced on site – because it really did feel like a journey back in time. It’s impressive that this place is alive, that you can really get a 50s hairstyle at the vintage hairdresser’s or get on the bus or tram that really does go from A to B. It was an unforgettable experience!”
Matt Baker: Travels with Mum and Dad
We were thrilled to welcome TV presenter Matt Baker to Beamish Museum for the filming of his latest television show, Matt Baker: Travels with Mum and Dad.
In the series, Matt and his parents, Janice and Mike, enjoyed various days out in the North East, and they chose Beamish Museum as one of their destinations as the focus for an hour-long episode.
Find out what Matt and his parents got up to during their time at Beamish here.
The War Below
Laura Radford Photography
Beamish fans may spot a few familiar locations when watching The War Below.
The First World War film tells the story of a group of British miners who were recruited to tunnel underneath no man’s land and break the deadly stalemate at the Battle of Messines in 1917.
Read all about The War Below here.
Downton Abbey
More than 100 cast and crew came to Beamish in October 2018 for the filming, including Allen Leech (who plays Tom Branson), Lesley Nicol (Mrs Patmore), Sophie McShera (Daisy), Kevin Doyle (Mr Molesley) and Mark Addy (Mr Bakewell).
Beamish also featured in the last ever episode of the global hit TV series, the Christmas special in 2015.
Discover how you can follow in the footsteps of the Downton Abbey stars here.
Something Special
The museum appeared on an episode of Something Special on CBeebies. Mr Tumble, played by Justin Fletcher, visited the museum and sang the Hello Song from the top of tram 31 before getting into Edwardian costume and exploring The 1900s Town. He visited the photographers, did a spot of shopping in the Co-op and even baked some bread in Herron’s Bakery.
Visitors of all ages were extremely excited to see Mr Tumble at Beamish and enjoyed being able to watch the filming taking place.
Ricky and Ralf’s Very Northern Road Trip
Beamish featured in an episode of Ricky and Ralf’s Very Northern Road Trip. Ricky Tomlinson and Ralf Little, who played The Royle Family’s father, Jim and son, Antony donned their flat caps and stepped back in time for filming at the museum.
The pair spoke to members of staff and volunteers and learnt about the history of coalmines and even stopped off in our photographers’ studio in The 1900s Town for a quick photo to remember their day out at Beamish!
Walking Britain’s Lost Railways
Television presenter Rob Bell spent a day at the museum while filming Channel 5’s Walking Britain’s Lost Railways. The episode, which aired in February 2020, looked back at the history of the Durham coalfields. Rob investigated the very early rail network, which carried coal from the county’s mines, during a footplate ride on our replica of Puffing Billy at Pockerley Waggonway.
Filming for the episode also took place in The 1900s Pit Village as Rob learnt more about how a colliery railway would have worked in 1913 – the peak of coal production in the North East.
Tony Robinson’s History of Britain
We also appeared on two episodes of Tony Robinson’s History of Britain on Channel 5. Sir Tony spent two days at the museum and during that time, filmed segments of the Victorian and Georgian episodes which aired in January 2020. Sir Tony drove a Beamish steam engine at the Colliery railway, rode in a Georgian coach and learnt about the Co-op’s Lamson-Paragon ball cash carrying system.
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Beamish, The Living Museum of the North tells the story of life in the North East in the 1820s, 1900s, 1940s and 1950s, and as such, is popular with filmmakers and photographers.
We receive many requests from broadcasters and TV production companies. We look at each of these requests on a case-by-case basis to ensure that filming fits around museum operations. Find out more about filming at Beamish, The Living Museum of the North here.