Somerset is back in the TV spotlight this week with Shepton Mallet Prison starring in a major new series.
The iconic penitentiary doubles as London’s Newgate Prison in the opening scenes of Guy Ritche’s highly anticipated new series, Young Sherlock, released worldwide today (4 March) on Prime Video.
The eight-part series is the action-packed origin story of the world’s most famous detective, starring Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Sherlock Holmes and Donal Finn as James Moriarty.
Filming for Episode 1, ‘The Case of the Missing Scrolls’ took place in Shepton in August and September 2024 with the help of Screen Somerset, Somerset Council’s film office. A crew of well over 100 spent around two weeks shooting at the prison which dates from 1625 and was the UK’s oldest prison when it closed in 2013.
As well as the scenes within the prison walls, including cells and exercise yard, road closures and extensive set-dressing transport Cornhill and Frithfield Lane back to the murky Victorian era for further scenes involving Sherlock and his brother Mycroft (Max Irons).
Screen Somerset supports, encourages and celebrates filming in the county in recognition of the economic and wider benefits it can bring. Film and TV production brought an estimated £4.2m to the county’s economy last financial year, with recent releases including Apple TV’s Down Cemetery Road, Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials on Netflix and the BBC’s Can You Keep A Secret?
Councillor Mike Rigby, Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Economic Development, Planning and Assets, said:
This is a huge series that will have a massive global audience, so to have Somerset featuring is fantastic.
When productions like this come to the county you can see how they bring income to the local economy. I’d like to thank Shepton for its patience and understanding during filming, it goes a long way to helping make Somerset an increasingly attractive destination for filmmakers.
Shepton Mallet Prison is one of Somerset’s many fantastic filming locations, having hosted feature films including Paddington 2, Wicked Little Letters and most recently the Bafta-nominated Wasteman, as well as series such as Grantchester, Des and Prison 951.
Charlie Lawson, Attraction Director at Shepton Mallet Prison, said:
For a while, it truly felt as though we’d stepped straight back into the 19th century, the atmosphere, the textures, and the details all worked together to create something incredibly immersive.
We were so proud of what had been created that we persuaded the crew to leave some of the transformed areas in place, so that our day and night visitors can still enjoy and recognise them now the production has been released. Being able to blend history with storytelling in such a tangible way was both tremendous fun and deeply rewarding.
Young Sherlock also filmed extensively in Bristol, assisted by the Bristol Film Office, with at locations included Underfall Yard, The Georgian House Museum, Broad Street, Portland Square doubling for 1870’s Oxford.
