All The Filming Locations We Will See In Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy
By
12 hours ago
From Hampstead to the Lake District
Excited for Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy? Valentine’s Day plans sorted. If you fancy a sneak peek, we’ve rounded up all of the filming locations we will see when the film lands in cinemas.
Where Was Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy Filmed?
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy was filmed in London and the Lake District across a 12-week shooting schedule from May to August 2024. In London, Bridget (Renée Zellweger) forgoes Borough Market in favour of the more family-oriented north London village Hampstead, and the real area was used for filming. The Lake District, meanwhile, features when Bridget accompanies her children’s school expedition.
‘I grew up in London, yet one of my favorite films growing up was Manhattan,’ says director Michael Morris. ‘What I loved about it was that it was a filmmaker who really loved to show his city. I wanted a bit of that spirit to be in this film.’
Attention to detail was paramount for the 150-strong crew, including down to an early scene at the home of Jeremy and Magda, who you might remember from the series’ first film, Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001). In the first installment, Bridget attends a dinner party here and must endure the smug married couples as a sullen singleton, and in Mad About The Boy, production recreated as many details as possible, from the furniture and decor to filling the room with as many members of the original cast as possible.
Bridget’s House In Hampstead
Bye, bye, Borough Market flat: in Mad About The Boy, Bridget is now living in leafy north London village Hampstead with her family – coincidentally where director Morris grew up and author Helen Fielding lived for some time. ‘There’s a certain atmosphere in north London that’s very specific, family-oriented,’ Morris says. ‘The Heath is ever present, and it’s a very specific atmosphere.’
The Victorian exterior is a real Hampstead house, capturing the area’s unique beauty and quirkiness – though some modifications were made to match Morris’ vision. The interior, in contrast, was filmed on a set, meticulously crafted over six weeks at Sky Studios Elstree. Production designer Kave Quinn diligently designed the inviting space, filling it with quirks and trinkets to encapsulate Bridget’s chaotic life (vibrant paint, Nina Campbell wallpaper, eclectic furniture) as well as the influence of her late husband Mark Darcy (books, art). Keep your eyes peeled for the many thoughtful details: Bridget’s diaries lining a shelf, children’s artwork on display, a height chart climbing the wall, and costumes from previous films spilling out of Bridget’s wardrobe.
The Better Women HQ
The exterior of Bridget’s workplace, Better Women, was filmed at Moor House (120 London Wall, City of London, London EC2Y 5ET), an iconic curved structure in the heart of the city of London. The interiors, however, were filmed elsewhere: at a real TV studio, no less. The BBC’s White City studios (Television Centre, 101 Wood Ln, London W12 7FA) – where real chat shows like Lorraine and The Graham Norton Show are filmed – were used for filming, with real BBC employees featuring in Mad About The Boy as the Better Woman crew, from camera operators to producers.
The Oak Tree
Bridget first meets Mad About The Boy’s love interest, Roxster (Leo Woodall), at an oak tree. The tree we see on screen is a real tree that sprouts out of Parliament Hill in Hampstead Heath. To avoid damaging it with climbing during filming, nodules and branch stumps from other trees were attached to the oak using rubber cast bark, ratchet straps and foam padding – and all removed afterwards, of course.
The Lake District
Bridget accompanies Billy’s class on their school trip to the Lake District – so the real region naturally had to be used. The production scheme scoured the national park before settling on the ideal barn for the Outward Bound crew to shelter in during the storm.
Out & About In Hampstead
Hampstead offers picturesque scenery aplenty, and the cobblestoned Flask Walk is just one example. Lined with traditional pubs, quaint cafes and eccentric shops selling antiques, books and fashions, the street features in Mad About The Boy when Bridget buys Mabel a hot chocolate en route to Billy’s school performance. To fit the festive timeline, the production team transformed 17th century pub The Flask (14 Flask Walk, London NW3 1HE) into a Christmas spectacle – in the height of summer.
Elsewhere in Hampstead, the exterior of Christ Church Primary School stands in for Billy and Mabel’s school. Not so for the interiors, however: classroom scenes were shot at Yerbury Primary School in Islington. The Christmas play, meanwhile, is set at the local church hall, but filming actually took place at the beautiful Grade II-listed Normansfield Theatre at the Langdon Down Centre in Teddington (Langdon Down Centre, 2a Langdon Park, Teddington TW11 9PS).
Petersham House
Roxster proves his life-saving prowess at a garden party, diving into a swimming pool to rescue a beloved dog. If you’d like to recreate the magic, you’ll have to venture into the gardens of Petersham House (Richmond TW10 7AA), the private home of the owners of Petersham Nurseries (Off Church Ln, Petersham Rd, Richmond TW10 7AB), Gael and Francesco Boglione. Their home’s extensive gardens house tennis courts, vegetables galore (used for the restaurant) and that all-important swimming pool. If you’d like to visit, you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled for its limited open days through the National Garden Scheme. The next open day is 11am–3pm on 13 April 2025; tickets cost £7.50 per adult, while children can visit for free.
WATCH
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy will be released in cinemas on Valentine’s Day 2025 in both the UK and the US.