Dawn French’s ITV drama, which is now available on Netflix, features some beautiful locations across south Devon and Cornwall.
ITV drama The Trouble with Maggie Cole first aired in 2020, but now it’s got a whole new lease of life, with viewers finding the series since it has been added to Netflix.
The series stars Dawn French as the titular village gossip, who gives an explosive radio interview in which she shares horrible secrets and speculation about all her friends and neighbours, leading to a massive fallout.
The plot may be dramatic, but it’s matched by the incredible coastlines on display. The show’s locales are stunning, filled with beaches, cottages and coastal villages, as it is set in the seaside town of Thurlbury.
But where is Thurlbury, is it a real place, and where was the series filmed? Read on for everything you need to know about where The Trouble with Maggie Cole was filmed.
Is Thurlbury a real place?
Nope! While The Trouble with Maggie Cole is set in “a picturesque small coastal town called Thurlbury”, this town does not actually exist.
There are two villages called Thurlby, both in Lincolnshire – but you won’t find Thurlbury anywhere on Google Maps.
Where was The Trouble with Maggie Cole filmed?
The drama was filmed in South Devon and Cornwall.
The tiny little village of Noss Mayo was used as one of the main locations for the fictional Thurlbury. Noss Mayo is located in South West Devon, about six miles from Plymouth, and it is close to Newton Creek – an arm of the estuary of the River Yealm. Across the water is the village of Newton Ferrers, which you can see on-screen in the TV drama.
Dawn French, who lives in Cornwall, also revealed some of the other locations.
“We’ve filmed on beaches that I went on as a kid like Mothecombe,” she said. “Launceston Castle is somewhere I also spent time as a kid. We did film in a lot of places that are my manor. Of all the cast I am the one who does know this area a bit. But there are still little bits in Cargreen where I had never been down a particular road. There was a whole little village there that I had never seen. So that was exciting.”
Filming also took place around Burgh Island, a tidal island on the coast of South Devon, and on nearby Bigbury-on-Sea beach. Dawn French shared images from the shoot:
Filming in Devon & Cornwall is bleddy AWFUL. #glasshouses @GenialProducti2 @ITV pic.twitter.com/REdoXwZXpP
— Dawn French 💙🔴🏳️🌈🇺🇦 (@Dawn_French) April 2, 2019
Another key location in the drama is Thurlbury’s local shop where Emily Dubiki (Tomi May) sells everything from milk to paperbacks to wine and loo roll.
The charming little shop we see on screen is part of the 19th-century village at Morwellham Quay, an open-air museum in Devon that also includes a copper mine, farm, nature reserve, restored ship and docks and quays. It sits within a UNESCO World Heritage site and is a popular tourist attraction.
The exterior of The Conqueror pub was filmed at the Crooked Spaniard in Cargreen, a small settlement near Saltash on the River Tamar. It’s now permanently closed, but it was also previously used as a location for BBC drama The Coroner.
The school scenes were filmed at The Erme Primary School in Ivybridge, with the help of a group of child actors from Plymkids Theatre Company.
Where was Thurlbury Historic Keep filmed?
Dawn French’s character Maggie Cole works at a Norman keep, showing off Thurlbury’s ancient heritage to schoolkids and tourists.
This was filmed with the help of Launceston Castle in Cornwall. The landmark was initially an earthwork and timber castle and was the administrative centre of the earldom of Cornwall from the 11th century, though it was rebuilt in stone in the 12th century and greatly enlarged – with a keep dating from the 13th century.
It later became a gaol, a Royalist garrison during the English Civil War, the site of the Duke of Northumberland’s park, and then a base for US soldiers in the Second World War. These days it’s run by English Heritage.
The Trouble with Maggie Cole is available to stream on Netflix now. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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