Lights, Camera, Action!

Eighty years ago, the triple Oscar-nominated classic British film, Brief Encounter steamed into Carnforth and with it, the town’s railway station earned the reputation as one of the most romantic in the country. Visitors can follow in the footsteps of Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard who filmed the love story – ranked second in the British Film Institute’s Top 100 Best British Films - at Carnforth in 1945, and soak in the atmospheric re-creation of the Refreshment Room as well as wallowing in nostalgia at the station’s award-winning Heritage Centre.

And there’s more love in the air just a few miles from Carnforth at the elegant Leighton Hall, a setting of the romantic mystery drama, Possession, starring Gwyneth Paltrow in 2002, and now a popular wedding venue. Romance blossomed for real between two theatrical stars – Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright – when they met during the stage version of The Entertainer and they later reprised their roles for the film shot mainly in Morecambe in 1960 at The Alhambra and Winter Gardens theatres and other locations in the town including the King’s Arms. Olivier was Oscar-nominated for playing faded comedian, Archie Rice.

Among the cast of The Entertainer was Morecambe’s very own Thora Hird who also appeared in many other films including A Kind of Loving in 1962. But it was perhaps her prolific television career which endeared her to the nation and led to her becoming a Dame in 1993. Last of the Summer Wine, In Loving Memory and Praise Be were among the most popular programmes in which she appeared alongside her BAFTA winning performances in two of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads monologues A Cream Cracker Under The Settee and Waiting For The Telegram.

Walk along the Promenade in Morecambe and you’ll understand why Alan Bennett also based two other television dramas – Sunset Across The Bay and All Day On The Sands – in the town. But Bennett is not alone in being inspired by Morecambe as another of the town’s famous former residents – Victoria Wood – is believed to have based one of her most well known sketches – Two Soups – on a local café. She also chose Thora Hird to appear in her television play – Pat and Margaret – and Victoria herself played Eric Morecambe’s mother, Sadie Bartholomew, in the BAFTA-winning television drama, Eric and Ernie.

And no visit to Morecambe is complete without a pilgrimage to the statue of the resort’s most famous son – Eric Morecambe – born there in 1926. From humble beginnings, Eric became one half of arguably Britain’s greatest comedy double act – Morecambe & Wise – who still hold the record for the most watched comedy programme in British television history when 28 million viewers tuned into their 1977 Christmas Show. And the area is still producing much-loved comedians and stars of the small screen.

Jon Richardson, team captain on Channel 4’s 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and soon to be seen in BBC1’s Waterloo Road, was born in Lancaster while Morecambe is the birthplace of soap favourites Emma Atkins who plays Charity Dingle in Emmerdale, and Cherylee Houston, Coronation Street’s Izzy Armstrong. Helen Worth, who played Gail in Coronation Street for 50 years, was brought up in Morecambe. Both Cherylee and Helen received MBEs for services to drama in 2022.

Lancaster University graduate, Andy Serkis, who began his acting career at the city’s Dukes theatre is now best known for his performance capture roles including Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film series.

Since 2019, Morecambe has achieved a starring role of its own as the location for worldwide hit television series – The Bay – co-created by Daragh Carville who lives in Lancaster. Fans can now visit many of the places featured in the crime drama which has run for five series, the most recent filmed prominently at the atmospheric Sunderland Point where The Ruby in the Smoke, starring Julie Walters and Billie Piper was set in 2006.

And Morecambe is no stranger to fictional detectives as even Agatha Christie’s Poirot paid a visit back in 1990 when David Suchet used his little grey cells to solve a mystery based at the town’s famous Midland Hotel.

The resort has become famous in recent years too as the home town of heavyweight champion boxer, Tyson Fury, who along with his wife and children appear in the Netflix reality series, At Home With The Furys. Morecambe is also home to Britain’s largest family – The Radfords – whose lives are followed in the Channel 5 series 22 Kids and Counting. You can even savour one of the Radford’s pies sold at their shop in nearby Heysham.

So viewers of screens big and small have much to keep them entertained visiting an area which has inspired memorable dramas and classic comedy, and given birth to some of the country’s most popular stars!