Where is Deadwater Fell set? Everything you need to know about the real filming locations

Deadwater Fell is the latest drama series to join Netflix that has viewers completely hooked. But where is the gripping series set? 

Coined the new Broadchurch by the Guardian, this suspenseful series has David Tennant in the starring role playing a widowed doctor in a sleepy Scottish town, who is facing suspicion after his wife, Kate, and their three young children were murdered in a fire. Originally appearing on Channel 4 in 2020, Deadwater Fell is proving to be one of the best thriller series added to Netflix, quickly climbing to the top of the steaming service's UK chart with viewers eager to race towards Deadwater Fell's shocking ending. 

This is everything you need to know about the filming locations of Deadwater Fell...

Where is Deadwater Fell set? 

Deadwater Fell is set in the fictional village Deadwater of Kirkdarroch, a sleepy and picturesque corner of Scotland. As the location is fictional, it, of course, isn't possible to visit, but fortunately, the series was filmed in two villages, one in East Ayrshire and another in Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland.

Where was Deadwater Fell filmed?

To create the drama's moody backdrop, producers used an amalgamation of two villages in rural Scotland; Dunlop, in East Ayrshire and another in Kilbarchan in Renfrewshire. Both towns boast historic features and quaint, cobbled streets full of old-world charm. But while these villages may look remote and nestled in the Scottish countryside, both are just around half an hour's drive from the city of Glasgow. 

David Tennant, who starred in and co-produced the show, noted how useful the towns' locations were during filming, explaining to the Radio Times, "Just in practical terms, you can be in the centre of a big city and then ten minutes later you can be in the middle of nowhere around Glasgow. From a filming point of view, that’s quite useful to have all those little villages in between them."

Tennant added, "It's not anything like where I grew up, but it feels like a very recognisable place. I don't know if that's specifically Scottish but it's the kind of community you could imagine being anywhere or in many places throughout Scotland."

Several town residents appeared in the show adding to the setting's authenticity, according to reporting from the Radio Times, including a local Ceilidh band who feature in the party scenes of the first episode of Deadwater Fell. 

As well as the towns of Dunlop and Kilbarchan, the opening coastal scenes were filmed at Culzean Beach in Ayrshire, a stunning seaside spot surrounded by the woodland and rugged cliffs of Culzean Country Park. This seaside spot is also in Ayrshire, just over an hour's drive away from the villages of Kilbarchan and Dunlop. 

Deadwater Fell is available to stream now on Netflix and All4.