With Martin Compston from Line of Duty, Sophie Rundle from Peaky Blinders and Mirren Mack from Sex Education, BBC One’s latest drama looks great before you’ve even seen the opening scene. Add to that a gripping story that combines the intensely human subjects of surrogacy and troubled teenagers with a mystery-and-thriller element, and you have all the makings of a hit.
Beyond these details, though, is one more essential facet: the backdrop of Glasgow and its countryside. From the grit and graffiti of the tower blocks to the unchanged wilderness of the forests and lochs, location provides another dimension to The Nest that’s more than merely aesthetic. It is, in the words of series writer Nicole Taylor, ‘an emotionally combustible confrontation between two Glasgows’ and ‘the story I’ve wanted to tell all my life.’
The house it’s filmed in called Cape Cove
Key to this is the breathtaking house that Emily (Rundle) and Dan (Compston) share. Set on the edge of Loch Long between Coulport and Cove on the Rosneath Peninsula, to the north-west of Glasgow, it looks almost too good to be true but is very much a real home. With five bedrooms, floor-to-ceiling windows, viewing decks with fire pits and an outdoor hot tub, it even has its own jetty and access to a private beach. It is, miraculously, available to rent through Cottages & Castles – though you may have some competition to make a booking. According to producer Clare Kerr, both Compston and Rundle were pretty taken with it: ‘I did overhear chats from time to time about, “So how much do you think it would cost to live here? What do you think it’s worth?”’ she told Radio Times.
For the production, a few changes were made to the interiors, most of them to promote the theme of the title. ‘If you look while you’re watching it,’ said Kerr, ‘there are lots of little motifs and bits of design, little ornaments throughout the house with birds on them, and also egg-shaped things.’ And in case you were wondering – yes, that is the same loch that Emily swims in. (While Rundle was game for the close-ups, the water was very cold and a stunt woman was employed for the long-distance stretches.)
Botanical Gardens Glasgow
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Providing contrast to the 20-mile loch and the surrounding unspoilt landscape are scenes set in the heart of Glasgow. This includes the flat where Kaya (Mack) lives, in the New Gorbals estate south of the River Clyde. While we see much of the city’s built-up areas, its diversity is reflected, too. Episode two takes us on a tour of the nightlife including The Buff Club on Bath Lane with its wall-size murals, Cosmopol karaoke venue on Hope Street and The Spiritualist on Miller Street, where Kaya works. We also see Emily and Kaya in the Kibble Palace, the 19th-century glasshouse in the Glasgow Botanic Gardens (originally designed for the home of John Kibble in Coulport, close to Cape Cove), and we watch Kaya eating her way through the menu at Chaophraya, the upscale Thai restaurant on Nelson Mandela Place.
Close to the restaurant is Glasgow City Chambers on George Square. Dating back to 1888, this is a grand statement from the city’s Victorian pomp, and remains the headquarters of its council and administrative offices. It was employed in the show for the music school where Emily teaches, and then again for the scene where Dan is pitching for a new development project. Also serving double time is the Riverside Campus at City of Glasgow College, rebuilt in 2015 with long windows overlooking the Clyde. This provides both the offices of The Morning Courier, where eager journalist Eleanor (Katie Leung) works, and the headquarters of Dan’s property-development business.
Another key location takes us out of the city again, to Finnich Glen about 15 miles north. This is the show’s Calderwood Falls, Kaya’s favourite place, in reality the Devil’s Pulpit, a gorge with a series of waterfalls that has previously appeared in Outlander, which was filmed across Scotland. It’s a hard place to find and harder still to reach with a film crew, but it’s easy to see why it was chosen.
The name comes from a rock that appears above the water and was supposedly used by druids or witches, but its power resides in something more ancient still, in the moss-covered rocks and natural beauty. It’s a deeply powerful place, especially so when set in the context of a drama that’s as much about the contrast between the human-made and the natural as it is those two Glasgows.
The Nest is available to stream on BBC iPlayer [from April 2020]
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