The most beautiful TV series locations in the world

White Lines

This tale of drugs and debauchery from Money Heist’s Alex Pina is a love letter to the unique mix of glamour and wilderness found on Spain’s Balearic Islands. There are beaches and opulent villas, but look out for the Nineties flashback, with its blissful sunset shot of Es Vedrà, the islet off Ibiza’s south-west coast. Watch and yearn. Stream it: Netflix

Find out more about where White Lines was filmed

Where was ‘White Lines’ filmed?

BBC Pictures / HBO

I May Destroy You

While dealing with some of the heaviest topics around, Michaela Coel’s riveting series also gave weight to style and location. London got a good showing, as did Italy. The scene where Arabella (played by Coel) reaches rock bottom on the sands of Battistini in Ostia was particularly distracting, equal parts ‘What’s she doing?’ and ‘Where is that?’. Stream it: BBC iPlayer

Killing Eve

On her trips to Paris, Amsterdam and Rome, Villanelle (Jodie Comer) has made the life of the travelling psychopathic assassin all too attractive. Most irresistible of all, though, was her stay in Barcelona for Season 3. The splendour of La Casa Ramos, a beautiful modernist building on Plaça de Lesseps in the Gràcia district is – give or take the odd murder – the stuff of city-break dreams. Stream it: BBC iPlayer

Find out more about where Killing Eve was filmed

Where is ‘Killing Eve’ filmed?

Succession

A dissection of America’s most ruthless, this show also gives us a peek into billionaires’ holiday habits, as the Roy family gather in an upstate New York retreat and in the Hamptons’ 175-million-dollar Henry Ford Estate at Jule Pond. Most fascinating, though, is their luxury-yacht trip to the Aegean and Croatia, particularly the island of Korčula – worth enduring a family conference for. Stream it: Sky/NowTV

Find out more about where Succession was filmed here

Where was Succession filmed?

Riviera

A proper potboiler about secrets, lavish living and art, this soapy confection reveals its greatest attraction in the title. Newly widowed Georgina Clios (Julia Stiles) lives in a sprawling Tuscan-style villa, the real-life Château Diter near Grasse, but most breathtaking is a glimpse of the Hôtel Belles Rives in Juan-les-Pins, the one-time waterfront home of F Scott Fitzgerald and the Riviera in bricks-and-mortar form. Stream it: Sky/NowTV

Read more about where Riviera was filmed

Where is ‘Riviera’ filmed?

BBC Pictures

Normal People

The first big hit during lockdown was set in Dublin but, like I May Destroy You, its most memorable location was on holiday, when Connell (Paul Mescal) and Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) are reunited at her family villa in Italy (which you can actually rent on Airbnb). Supposedly set in Trieste, this is Il Casale in Tenuta di Verzano near Sant’Oreste, about 25 miles north of Rome. Just as redolent of the perfect Italian tour is the pair’s bike trip to nearby Stimigliano for ice cream and unspoken desire. Stream it: BBC iPlayer

Find out more about Normal People‘s filming locations

Where is ‘Normal People’ filmed?

The Last Wave

The BBC’s latest French import is a supernatural mystery but alongside the pourquoi of it all comes the setting, on the famed surf beaches of the endless Côte d’Argent on the Atlantic coast. There’s plot aplenty, but the real appeal is an invitation to imagine relaxing into a casual life of long days catching waves and longer nights spent in wooden-shack beach bars. Stream it: BBC iPlayer

Gap Year

A flashback to backpacking years – whether you’re the right age to remember or just imagining a misspent youth – this comedy still revels in Asia’s big tourist spots. The gang visit the Great Wall, trek Malaysian jungles and tour Nepalese temples but the highlight is the Full Moon Party on Thailand’s Koh Phangan. It’s filmed at the real location, so you can almost feel the hot night air and the sand between your toes, leading you to book a trip you’ll regret. Stream it: all4

Top Of the Lake

Scandi noir flipped to the other side of the world, this thriller captured the wonder of New Zealand’s South Island. Filmed around Queenstown, it lingers on the peaks, valleys and forests but above all the lakes. One in particular, Moke Lake, stands out: surrounded by mountains and little else, it’s where the mysterious GJ (Holly Hunter) pitches her women’s commune. Lovers of wilderness will admire her choice. Stream it: Netflix

The Night Manager

This superior thriller from 2016 lingers in the memory, partly for its spectacular locations. There are lavish hotels in Marrakech (standing in for Egypt) and Zermatt, but the breakout star is the complex owned by villain Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie), in real life Mallorca’s La Fortaleza, or Sa Fortalesa Albercutx de Pollensa (Albercutx Fortress). Set on a headland on the island’s northern tip, it’s made up of seven villas with terraces and two pools. Crime does pay, it seems. Stream it: Amazon Prime

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Van der Valk

This reboot of a Seventies favourite sees Marc Warren taking the role of the Dutch detective in a variety of locations that remind the viewer just how close this glorious city is. He rings the changes with visits to the bohemian NDSM Wharf and a bizarre waterborne restaurant in Houthaven, but the scene that will have you booking the Eurostar is a cycle chase through the heart of the Grachtengordel canal district. Stream it: ITV Hub

The Good Karma Hospital

A feelgood series in the Death in Paradise mould, this is supposedly set in the southern Indian state of Kerala but filmed in Sri Lanka, around the town of Galle. The hospital run by Lydia (Amanda Redman) is in fact the Amarasuriya Teacher Training College, but the star is the beach at Unawatuna, where Greg (Neil Morrissey) lives the dream running a bar on sands lapped by the Indian Ocean. Stream it: ITV Hub

Warp Films/photographer Dean Rogers

Little Birds

An exotic tale of an American ingénue in Fifties Tangier, this production is a riot of decadence and colour. Rather than Morocco, it was filmed just across the Mediterranean on the southern tip of Spain, in Tarifa. Better known for its windsports, this is a beach destination; its allure is down to the whitewashed houses and narrow streets of the Old Town, where the Moorish architecture transports viewers to another time. Stream it: Sky/NowTV

Sky UK ltd

Patrick Melrose

Among the wretched scenes of highly privileged agony and Benedict Cumberbatch’s magnetic performance, this prestige mini-series slipped in some beautiful surroundings. Chief among them is the title character’s childhood home in Provence, filmed at the 18th-century Château Unang, close to the village of Malemort-du-Comtat – the pastoral paradise for his personal hell. Stream it: Sky/NowTV

ITV Pictures

The Durrells

Over four seasons, this show turned genteel penury into a vision of bliss with its Corfu setting and golden Thirties glow. There are numerous pretty coves and beaches, but really there’s no beating the family home. Villa Annemoyani is just to the north of Corfu Town, in Gouvia – though in a state of disrepair, it’s the ideal base for a long summer living the island life. Stream it: ITV Hub/Britbox

Find out more about the real-life Corfu filming locations of The Durrells

Where is ‘The Durrells’ filmed?

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