Where is Around the World in 80 Days filmed?

By Flora Carr

Published: Sunday, 26 December 2021 at 12:00 am

David Tennant (Des, Good Omens) plays unlikely globetrotter Phileas Fogg in the brand new BBC adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days, based on the book of the same name.

The show begins with Mr Fogg taking on a £20,000 wager to circumvent the globe in 80 days or less, before embarking on his journey alongside his manservant Passepartout (Ibrahim Koma) and accompanied by journalist Abigail Fix (The Crown’s Leonie Benesch), who plans to document their travels.

Around the World in 80 Days star David Tennant discusses shooting in Romania and South Africa and why camels are not the calmest creatures in the Radio Times podcast – listen now

The series kicks off in London, and in the first three episodes alone, the journey takes our characters from the streets of Paris, to a desert sandstorm in Yemen.

Read our guide to the filming locations used for BBC One’s globetrotting series Around the World in 80 Days.

Where was Around the World in 80 Days filmed?

BBC One drama Around the World in 80 Days was filmed primarily in two locations – South Africa and Romania – with the two countries standing in for a host of different places throughout the globetrotting eight-part series.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Leonie Benesch (who plays Abigail Fix) said: “I’ve never been to South Africa. And also, I’ve never been to Romania. So both were new to me. I loved them both.”

On filming a desert scene for episode three, she added: “It was beautiful [but] disgusting to film there because it’s so hot. But that was the case with a lot of the locations, you’d get there, like, ‘This is amazing! I want to go home!’ And, ‘I need to be next to an air conditioner’, or ‘I need to be in the water, because this is just too hot’.”

Where was the London Reform Club filmed?

The Reform Club, the gentlemen’s club in London where Phileas Fogg is a member, was filmed at the historic Cape Town Town Hall in South Africa.

Katy Fyfe, location manager for the series in South Africa, explained: “The building where we shot the Reform Club is the town’s city hall. The city of Cape Town was very kind to let us shoot there and were really good in opening doors for us to use it for the length of time needed to finish the filming. It’s almost unheard of to have the city hall location for so long.

“Nelson Mandela gave his freedom speech from there. There’s actually a monument to him as you come up the main stairs of the building where he stood just after he was released from prison. The building holds a lot of special memories and moments in South African history.”

The Reform Club plays a key, recurring role in the series, as it’s where we revisit the characters of Nyle Bellamy and Bernard Fortescue, the latter being the editor of The Daily Telegraph, and Abigail’s doting father.

However, other scenes set in London – including Fogg’s house, and various London streets – were filmed in Romania.

Where were the Paris scenes in episode 1 filmed?

BBC / Slim 80 Days

Sebastian Krawinkel, production designer on the series, revealed that the scenes set on the streets of Paris, France, were actually filmed in Romania, and in particular its capital city Bucharest.

He explained: “Romania offered us an amazing art department with highly skilled, incredible artists. We also found terrific locations in Bucharest and the surrounding area with tremendous old buildings that worked for the Parisian part of the journey. The architecture in Bucharest is very French by influence so that was fortunate. “

Where were the Italy train scenes in episode 2 filmed?

The Italian ravine that Phileas Fogg and his companions attempt to cross by train in episode two was filmed in Romania, close to the historical region of Transylvania.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Benesch said: “In Romania, we went to – episode two, [with] all the stuff on the train as they’re going over the ravine – we were in the mountain close to Transylvania, which is actually where my grandfather’s from because I went there on the weekend. But yeah, that was really surreal. [It wasn’t] a place you would never go to usually.”

Where was the Yemen port city of Al Hudaydah filmed?

In Around the World in 80 Days episode three, Phileas Fogg finds himself stuck on Yemen’s west coast, at the port city Al Hudaydah – and opts for a dangerous desert crossing.

Al Hudaydah (a real city, and principal port on the Red Sea) was actually filmed at Cape Town Film Studios in South Africa, with production adapting old sets that were dormant on the backlot, or else converting previous sets from other shows.

Krawinkel said that he and his team began by “researching what a place like Al Hudaydah would look like in 1872″, when the series is set.

He continued: “This is a real city in Yemen with its principal port on the Red Sea. We started with images and ideas and found this beautiful town square that we could work with located at the Cape Town Film Studios in South Africa that had been used for another show. We drew some sketches of how this could be turned into an Arabic city square, which was our jumping off point. I shared my first sketches and ideas with director Steve Barron and the producers and had a great response and then we started building.”

Where were the desert sandstorms in episode three filmed?

The sandstorm scenes in episode three were filmed among the Atlantis sand dunes, situated up the west coast of South Africa.

Other locations in South Africa were also used for different portions of the desert journey. Location manager Katy Fyfe explained: “To get a little bit more on the journey through the desert, we also filmed at Theewaterskloof [in the Western Cape province of South Africa], which gives us another section of desert. The location looks really great on film.

“Then we headed up to the mountains just on the other side of Grabouw where we shot the end of the Arabian Desert journey. Basically, through the magic of film, we stitch together these locations to create one long continuous journey.”