Director Michael Morris was determined to demonstrate the importance of London in the story

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy filmed across multiple locations in London and the Lake District when the twelve-week shoot took place last summer.

Production designer Kave Quinn and set decorator Penny Crawford created Bridget’s world by adapting several London locations – involving moving 150 crew members and 15 trucks through busy areas of the capital – as well as a scenic shoot in the Lake District.

Director Michael Morris was determined to demonstrate the importance of London in the film, having known the city as home for many years. He said: “I grew up in London, yet one of my favourite films growing up was Manhattan. 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.”

The interior of Bridget’s home was built over six weeks on a sound stage at Sky Studios Elstree with a 360-degree environment to capture Bridget’s chaotic life.

During a two-week prep of the main house exterior, set in Hampstead, the art department made several modifications to Bridget’s Victorian house, as well as to neighbouring ones.

“There’s a certain atmosphere in north London that’s very specific, family-oriented,” Morris enthused. “The Heath is ever present, and it’s a very specific atmosphere.

Key location scenes:

Great Oak, Parliament Hill
The team made climbing holds from cut nodules and branch stumps from other trees, attached by the Greens team to the oak tree using rubber cast bark as camouflage for the straps and gaps. The crew avoided fixing anything to the tree by using foam padding between the holds, ratchet straps and trunk.

Flask Walk
Just off Hampstead High Street, Flask Walk is a cobblestoned pedestrian road full of traditional pubs, cafes and unusual boutiques and bookshops, with 17th century pub, The Flask a well known local landmark. For the scene in which Bridget buys Mabel a hot chocolate on their way to Billy’s school performance, the team transformed Flask Walk into a Christmas spectacle.

Galsworthy School
In the film, Billy and Mabel’s school is ‘played’ by Hampstead’s Christ Church Primary School for the exteriors. The school interior was shot at Yerbury Primary School in Islington, and the Christmas play in the local church hall was lensed at Normansfield Theatre, Langdon Down Centre in Teddington.

Bridget-Roxster date locations
The various locations used for Bridget and Roxster’s dates included: the Electric Diner on Portobello Road in West London and Borough Market (their first date), Hackney Canal and Fish Island. The dinner montage scene was filmed at La Cage Imaginaire, a restaurant on Flask Walk.

Roxster’s Pool Rescue
The garden party where Roxster jumps into the pool to save a beloved dog was filmed in the private gardens of Petersham House in Richmond.

Better Women HQ
The exterior headquarters for Bridget’s new job on the show Better Women was filmed at Moor House, a distinctive building on London Wall in the city of London. The interior of Better Women was filmed at BBC Studios in White City.
Real BBC employees—camera operators, floor managers and producers—appear as the Better Women crew.

The Lake District
The Lake District provided the ideal location of the Outward Bound expedition where Bridget, Mr. Walliker and Billy’s class seek shelter from a storm.

For an early scene in which Bridget attends a party at the home of Magda and Jeremy’s house, the filmmakers painstakingly re-created the party scene from the first film, Bridget Jones’s Diary. The production recreated many details in the scene and filled the room with as many members of the original cast as possible.

Based on the novel by Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is directed by Morris from a screenplay by Fielding, Dan Mazer and Abi Morgan. Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner produce for Working Title, alongside Jo Wallett. The executive producers are Fielding and Zellweger.

The DoP is Suzie Lavelle; costume designer is Molly Emma Rowe; editor is Mark Day; music by Dustin O’Halloran and casting by Lucy Bevan and Olivia Grant.

Universal is releasing the film internationally on 14 February; it will be streamed on Peacock in the US.

All images via Universal Studios/UPI.