Outlander filmed Scotland as the US
Outlander filmed Scottish locations as the US state of North Carolina for its fourth season.
Caitriona Balfe co-stars in the drama as nurse Claire who visits Scotland in 1946 but finds herself transported back in time to the country’s mid-18th century Jacobite risings.
Season Four relocates the story in part to colonial North Carolina.
Filming Scotland as colonial America was largely a logistical decision. Few UK-based TV series in fact shoot in the US as the country’s locations can often be replicated in Europe.
The Outlander team also has the considerable advantage of its own dedicated studio space in Scotland at Wardpark Studios near Glasgow, which was created specifically for the show.
“We have our crew [and] our big studio here, so it was better to base here and remain here,” said Matthew B Roberts, an executive producer on Outlander, in comments to Radio Times.
“Believe it or not, Scotland plays for North Carolina quite well.
“[The studio] is a rare thing to have because it’s ours. This is all ours. Every stage is ours – we have prop building, we have plasterers; we have everything we need that we can [use to] create this world.”
In the final edit of the season, Scotland’s landscapes were combined with stock footage of the real North Carolina and additional material shot in parts of Eastern Europe.
The series features Native American characters, who were flown to Scotland for the shoot from the US and Canada.
Outlander has not always been filmed entirely in Scotland, with the previous season having used South Africa as a stand-in for Jamaican story settings.
The show has been commissioned for at least two more series, with Season Five scheduled to start filming at the end of next month.
Wardpark Studios remains one of Scotland’s best-developed studio facilities in a country that does not yet have any large-scale purpose-built stages. The latest adapted studio is being planned for Port of Leith in Edinburgh and last month Screen Scotland invited development proposals for the site from private companies.
Images: Starz Entertainment/David Bloomer
Also on The Knowledge
Freedom Scripted options Sebastian Faulks’ Engleby
Sebastian Faulks’ novel Engleby is set to be adapted for television by C4-backed indie Freedom Scripted, starring Noah Jupe.
Shetland wins double recommission
The BBC has ordered two more series of detective drama Shetland with the first (Series 9) filming this month.
Bank of Dave the Sequel begins northern shoot
Filming gets underway today (26 February) on the Netflix sequel to 2023 feature Bank of Dave with shooting taking place largely in Burnley and Leeds.
Filming underway on new series of Strike
Strike, The Ink Black Heart – the sixth instalment of the detective drama - has begun filming.
Feature film Lola and Freddie to shoot in London this summer
A new feature film, Lola and Freddie, will shoot in London locations this summer with Naomie Harris, Joel Fry, Jameela Jamil and Olivia Lee leading the cast.
Construction commences on BBC's West Midlands production hub as new series is greenlit
Ground has been broken on The Tea Factory, a new BBC production hub in the West Midlands that promises to be the BBC’s greenest building, with a new series featuring Billy Billingham to be produced in the region.
