By Eleanor Bley Griffiths

Published: Wednesday, 27 October 2021 at 12:00 am

---

A key part of the appeal of BBC One crime drama Shetland is its breathtaking landscapes and seascapes, from the windswept beaches to the magnificent cliffs of Shetland itself.

As DI Jimmy Perez (Douglas Henshall) returns for a sixth series, the viewer also returns to the stunning backdrop of the Shetland Islands.

Season six is set in Shetland once more, after a local lawyer is killed in a shooting witnessed by a professional diver – who later dies in suspicious circumstances.

Speaking ahead of the new season, Henshall said that it was “wonderful to be back” filming in Shetland, “but it was tricky at the start because we all went into our own self-imposed lockdown again. For me, all I do is go to work and go home, with the odd visit to a supermarket once in a while. I don’t really do anything else. I feel the weight of responsibility this time around,” he says.

“It’s been great being on location in Shetland and out in the fresh air. Being outside again has been wonderful. You know I came to Shetland and I hadn’t worked for a year and a half. I hadn’t been in a room with more than four people and suddenly to come on a TV set with all the cast and crew around me was a bit daunting for a little while. It’s always lovely to come back to Shetland but it’s certainly not been under normal circumstances this year.”

Read on for all the key locations that you’ll see on screen.

Is BBC drama Shetland actually filmed on Shetland?

As the name implies, BBC crime drama Shetland is set on the Shetland Islands, a group of islands at the northernmost part of the British Isles. Shetland is approximately 168 km from the Scottish mainland, and the current population is estimated at under 24,000.

So how much of the drama is actually filmed on the Shetland Islands?

Producer Eric Coulter previously told RadioTimes.com: “Most of the exteriors will be in Shetland, and we’ll have some interiors in Shetland also, but we’ll do quite a lot of the interiors back in Glasgow.” Out of 16 weeks of filming, the team spends six busy weeks in Shetland. Much of this is spent on the largest island, known as the Mainland. “It’s a joy filming there,” Coulter says. “People are genuinely supportive of the show.”

It is vitally important to shoot exteriors on location in Shetland, because they can rarely be replicated. The producer explained: “The landscape of Shetland is so particular that to try and match those exteriors is quite difficult. There is an area about an hour from Glasgow called Loch Thom which we do film as an exterior location for Shetland, but that’s really the only area we can use. Any kind of major exterior work really has to be Shetland.”

As for what makes Shetland so distinctive, Coulter says, “It’s got very few trees. It’s very open, it’s quite gentle, the hills aren’t very high – and everywhere you look there is water. You’re never more than three miles away from water. So that undulating landscape and the water are really particular to Shetland and that’s very hard to match anywhere else.”

Where is Lerwick police station filmed?

“We use the real police station in Lerwick,” Coulter reveals. “The building itself is actually the courtroom, the procurator fiscal, and the police station.”

While the team uses the police station’s exterior in Lerwick (Shetland’s main town), the interiors are filmed on set in Glasgow.

Where does Jimmy Perez live?

Like the police station, Jimmy Perez’s house is “really two sets” – an exterior in Lerwick, and an interior filmed on set in Glasgow.

Shetland season 5 filming locations

Where is the beach where the arm is discovered?

In one of the opening shots from series five, a jogger’s idyllic morning run along the beach is interrupted when she discovers a young man’s severed forearm washed up on the shore.

This was filmed at Banna Minn beach on the island of West Burra in the Shetland Islands, a half-hour drive from the main town at Lerwick.

Where was the MacBay Hotel filmed?

DI Jimmy Perez stumbles across the MacBay Hotel on a drive back from where the victim’s remains were discovered. Though it has an absolutely spectacular view, the venue has clearly seen better days.

In reality, the property’s name is the Westings Inn, and it sits near the Tingwall airstrip on Shetland and about 20 minutes’ drive from Lerwick. Coulter tells us: “There was a hotel which was actually empty – it had previously been a hotel, and it had been closed for a year or two.”

The white-painted inn (which is sadly not expected to reopen any time soon) is located near the summit of Wormadale Hill, which explains the excellent sea views from the bar.

Where was the fish factory filmed?

The fishing industry is a huge part of life in Shetland, and in series five a fish factory becomes a big part of the story.

“That’s all shot in Shetland,” Coulter says. “The exterior of the fish factory is actually an old fish factory, an unused fish factory, but the interior of the fish factory was a working fish factory in Lerwick.”

Exteriors were shot at a closed fish farm near Bixter on Shetland, while the interior scenes were filmed at Grieg Seafood in Lerwick – the largest salmon farmer in Shetland.

Where did Shetland series 5 film in Glasgow?

Part-way through the series, the investigation takes Perez (Douglas Henshall) to Glasgow – which was pretty convenient for the cast and crew considering they already shoot a chunk of the drama there.

Fans familiar with the city will notice filming locations in various parts of the Scottish city, including Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.

Henshall also shared this anecdote from filming on St Vincent Street in central Glasgow…

The most Glasgow thing I’ve heard in ages. We’re filming on St. Vincent St in town today. Our First AD calls Action and from nowhere, timed to perfection somebody 50 yards away shouts “GET IT UP YE” Take lasts about 5 seconds before @dickie_kate and me start laughing. #Shetland

— Douglas Henshall (@djhenshall) August 17, 2018