Van der Valk returns to ITV this week, with the dutch detective series once again featuring some stunning locations as a backdrop to each episode’s central mystery.
This season sees the cast following up the gruesome murder of a solicitor whose body is found at a windfarm, the death of a young musician and the murder of a former diamond polisher, among other mysteries.
Season 2 once again stars Marc Warren, Maimie McCoy and Darrell D’Silva, but where is the show set and where have the new episodes been filmed?
Read on for everything you need to know about where Van der Valk is set and where season 2 was filmed.
Where is Van der Valk set?
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Van der Valk is set in Amsterdam, and the location is key to the show’s identity. The series takes viewers on a tour of the city, exploring the old centre as well as the more modern areas.
In a featurette ahead of the first season Marc Warren teased that the show would let viewers experience “some very unusual locations that people wouldn’t have seen before”, while his costar Maimie McCoy called Amsterdam a “vibrant, really really sexy, really modern city”.
Where did filming take place for Van Der Valk season 2?
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As with the first season, the latest batch of episodes were filmed largely around Amsterdam and other parts of the Netherlands. In a feature discussing the new season with The I, the show is said to once again feature plenty of iconic Dutch landscapes including the regenerated docklands, a famous statue of 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza, and a rooftop pool at the luxury hotel W Amsterdam.
Other filming locations viewers should keep their eyes peeled for include the Muziekgebouw, a glass and concrete concert hall that can be found in the Eastern Docklands, and the A’DAM Tower, which houses bars, restaurants and more and can be seen in the background of numerous shots.
As in the first season, Café Scheltema features heavily as the location where the team often runs through the case and Van der Valk hits upon numerous breakthroughs.
Outside of Amsterdam, this season has also been filmed in Utrecht and The Hague, also cities in the Netherlands, with creator Chris Murray telling The i: “Amsterdam is quite difficult to film in. The canal-lined streets are quite narrow, and it’s hard to get permission to get a production crew in for long, so we look further afield to find places that are more accessible.”
One location which can be seen in the second season is the anatomy department of Utrecht University, which, along with three other locations throughout the Netherlands, doubles as a diamond factory.
Meanwhile, a windfarm seen at the end of episode 1 was filmed at Eemshaven port, which can been found in the province of Groningen on the country’s north coast. Also seen at the end of the first episode is Scheveningen Pier, which is located near The Hague.
Van der Valk season 2 will air from Sunday 7th August at 8pm on ITV. For more, check out our TV Guide or visit our dedicated Drama hub.
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