The Honourable Society of The Inner Temple, often known as the Inner Temple, is an historic professional association for barristers and judges, and is one of the four Inns of Court.

The Inner Temple is a popular filming location, so we spoke to Nadia Ruiz, Assistant to The Director of The Treasury Office, to find out more about what is on offer to producers and location managers.

How much of the Inner Temple Estate is available to filmmakers?

The interiors of our Treasury Building and all external areas of The Inner Temple estate are available for filming. We also have the prestigious Temple Church within the grounds of the estate. Whilst the filming of the interior of the Temple Church is managed by The Temple Church Trust, the exterior and the church courtyard are managed by The Inner Temple.

Our buildings have several different styles and ages. Our most popular locations are the Georgian terrace buildings of King’s Bench Walk, the 12th century Church Court and our large, three-acre garden.

We now have a few areas with modern interiors, including a modern lecture theatre. This is proving a popular addition for filming.

How much notice is needed for a film or TV project to use the site, and are there restricted times?

We ask that applications are made at least one month in advance of the proposed filming date. We can occasionally accommodate filming at short notice, but this is decided on a case-by-case basis.

As we are a working estate, we normally only allow filming at weekends.

We do allow night filming and this has been common in the past. We are happy to discuss the options when an application is made.

What kinds of productions have been filmed at Inner Temple?

The Inner Temple has been used for a variety of TV and film productions, along with fashion shoots and commercials.

A notable few are: The Da Vinci Code, Mission Impossible 5, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mary Poppins Returns, Downton Abbey, Silk, Vivienne Westwood, The One Show, Operation Mincemeat, The Nevers, David Copperfield, Silent Witness, Great Expectations, Anatomy of a Scandal, Damage and Taboo.

Production shoots may last a few hours or for several weekends.

Can Inner Temple double for other locales?

Most recently Inner Temple has doubled for snowy Hampstead and a Belgian prison and street. In the past it has doubled for the garden of 10 Downing Street, government interiors, Oxford and Cambridge.

Points of interest

During the filming of Mission Impossible 5, windows were removed and replaced with stunt glass so that Tom Cruise could smash through them.

Our estate is still lit by gas lamp at night.

We can accommodate a variety of dressing requests. Recently the whole of King’s Bench walk was transformed into a magical snowy Christmas scene. The following weekend the same area was covered in barbed wire and turned into a prison.

We also have a variety of green room spaces and a large car park that can accommodate tech vehicles.

We offer a discount for members of Film London’s Green Screen initiative.

With many thanks to Nadia Ruiz of The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple for her help in compiling this article.

All images via Inner Temple unless otherwise credited.