The impact of filming on the heritage sector in England

English stately homes have been used as filming locations since the 1920s, as seen in Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall (1924, Marshall Neilan) which was shot on location at Haddon Hall. The use of stately homes and heritage sites has become synonymous with heritage films and television series, yet this new role for these visitor attractions has never been studied in detail. This thesis considers the financial and cultural impact of filming in the heritage sector in England and identifies the shift in the relationship between the screen industries and the heritage sector since filming became more common. Considering the process of becoming a filming location, the concerns during filming and the afterlife of filming, this thesis raises questions about representation, authenticity and accuracy. To understand these, this thesis utilises Jean Baudrillard’s framework of simulacra and hyperreality complemented by Ning Wang’s authenticity framework and Sue Beeton’s film tourism framework. This thesis draws from twenty interviews with managers and owners in the heritage sector and has identified the processes, financial implications, conservation issues, class distinctions and cultural differences that stem from filming. Filming not only brings heritage sites to an international audience but also instates fictional narratives over the history of the site, sometimes borrowing from it but more often overwriting it, leading to questions of accuracy and the role of filming in the heritage sector going forward. This is balanced by the demonstrable importance of filming during the Covid-19 pandemic when the sites were closed to the public and relied on filming for income. This thesis provides an overview of the relationship between the screen industries and the heritage sector in England from before and during the Covid-19 pandemic.