The Cobb, the cliffs, the winding streets… it’s easy to understand why Lyme Regis has been drawing film-makers for decades. From Hollywood blockbusters to Netflix hits, we’ve uncovered every major production that has used the town as its backdrop, and where to find the locations!
The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981)
The image that put Lyme Regis on the cinematic map: Meryl Streep in a black cloak, standing alone at the end of the Cobb, staring out to sea through a storm! It remains one of British cinema’s most recognisable shots… and it nearly didn’t happen.
The film is based on the novel by John Fowles, who moved to Lyme Regis in 1965 and conceived the story after seeing a woman standing motionless on the Cobb, “staring, staring out to sea.” He wrote The French Lieutenant’s Woman from his study at Belmont House, overlooking the very harbour wall that would become the novel’s most famous setting.
In the summer of 1980, Parlon Productions took over the town for six weeks of filming. Meryl Streep stayed at Haye House with her baby and bodyguards, while Jeremy Irons stayed at Underhill Farm – both houses were used as locations in the film, along with Ware House, Pinhay House (now a residential care home), the Three Cups Hotel (find it on Broad Street, but it’s not a hotel any more), the Royal Lion Hotel, Broad Street itself, and of course the Cobb. A part-built replica ship was constructed in the harbour to hide modern boats from view.
The famous storm scene proved the most difficult to film. For the first five weeks, the weather was sunny and calm. The crew tried to create an artificial storm using fire engines and wind machines, but it wasn’t convincing. Then, during the final days of filming, a real storm arrived – so violent that it was too dangerous for Streep to stand on top of the wall. Art director Terry Pritchard donned her cloak and stood in as a double while the scene was completed.
The film earned five Oscar nominations, including Best Actress for Streep.
Get the selfie: Walk to the end of the Cobb’s upper wall – “the High Wall” – for the exact spot where the cloaked figure stands. But don’t do it in a storm! Broad Street and the Royal Lion Hotel are also recognisable from the film.
Wonka (2023)
The Warner Bros blockbuster opened and closed on a snow-covered Cobb – though it’s a bit of a struggle to recognise it! CGI was used to transform the harbour into a winter wonderland for the scenes where a young Willy Wonka (Timothee Chalamet) first arrives in England.
Filming took place in October 2021, when the Cobb was closed to the public and dressed with period props. The world’s last surviving steam drifter, the 1930s Lydia Eva, was moored in the harbour for the scene of Wonka arriving by boat. The cast also included Olivia Colman, Hugh Grant (as a green-haired Oompa Loompa), Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carter, and Sally Hawkins.
Seeing the film crews and the chance of spotting Timothee Chalamet created a real buzz in the town, with onlookers gathering along Marine Parade to watch the action. You could see the steam drifter entering the Cobb from the windows at Lyme Cottage!
Grab a selfie: The opening and closing harbour scenes were filmed on and around the Cobb. Walk the full length and use AI to add a bit of snow and you’re there!
Heartstopper – Season 3 (2024)
The third season of Netflix’s hit coming-of-age series brought the cast to Lyme Regis for the beach scenes. Stars Kit Connor and Joe Locke were filmed along the promenade and on the sandy beach during October 2023.
True to form, the Lyme Regis weather had other ideas. Unpredictable conditions meant the crew had to stay in Lyme longer than planned to get their shots – which gave fans an unexpected bonus: more time to spot the cast filming on location.
The series, based on Alice Oseman’s graphic novels, follows the relationship between schoolboys Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) and Nick Nelson (Kit Connor), and also stars Olivia Colman and Stephen Fry.
Grab a selfie: The beach scenes were filmed on Lyme Regis’s Front Beach (Town Beach), along Marine Parade.
Persuasion (1995, 2007 & 2022 adaptations)
Long before the cameras arrived, Lyme Regis had already been immortalised in literature. Jane Austen visited the town twice, in 1803 and 1804, and fell in love with it. She wrote to her sister Cassandra about the “delightful” sea-bathing and the Assembly Rooms dances, and the memories of those visits inspired the Lyme Regis chapters at the heart of her final novel, Persuasion.
In the book, Austen’s characters visit the Cobb, where the reckless Louisa Musgrove insists on being “jumped down” the steps by Captain Wentworth – and falls, suffering a serious concussion. The steps, made from protruding stones, are still known locally as “Granny’s Teeth.” Austen’s description of the town is so vivid that Alfred Lord Tennyson walked nine miles from Bridport to Lyme in 1867 specifically to see “the steps from which Louisa Musgrove fell.”
Above the blue door of Pyne House on Broad Street, a plaque reads: “This is the most likely lodging of Jane Austen, whose visits to Lyme in 1803 and 1804 gave birth to her novel Persuasion.”
Three screen adaptations have brought Austen’s Lyme chapters to life:
- 1995 BBC adaptation – starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds, filmed on location at the Cobb and along the seafront
- 2007 ITV adaptation – starring Sally Hawkins and Rupert Penry-Jones, also shot in Lyme Regis
- 2022 Netflix film – starring Dakota Johnson as Anne Elliot and Henry Golding, with Cosmo Jarvis as Captain Wentworth
The 2022 Netflix production filmed on location during the summer of 2021. The amazing weather created an unexpected problem: with little shelter on the Cobb, the cast had to stay covered up between takes to avoid getting tanned, which would have caused continuity issues with scenes filmed elsewhere! The scene where Louisa falls was shot at the exact same spot on the Cobb that Austen described in the novel.
Get that selfie: “Granny’s Teeth” – the steps on the Cobb where Louisa falls – are easy to spot. Walk along the upper wall and look for the protruding stone steps connecting the upper and lower levels. Pyne House on Broad Street is worth a look for the Jane Austen plaque, although the building isn’t open to the public.
Mary Anning & The Dinosaur Hunters (2024-2025)
This independent two-part biopic tells the story of Mary Anning with a commitment to historical accuracy that sets it apart from the Hollywood treatment. Directed by Sharon Sheehan and starring Jenny Agutter, the film was shot entirely on location in Lyme Regis and along the Jurassic Coast – on actual film rather than digital, giving it a distinctive visual quality.
Part one covers Mary’s childhood through to her discovery of the first complete ichthyosaur skeleton and was screened to considerable acclaim at festivals in 2024, including a premiere at the Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis. Part two is in production. Reviewers have praised the film’s authenticity and stunning cinematography, with one noting it tells Anning’s story “with much more authenticity than the recent big budget Hollywood film on the same subject.”
Grab a selfie: The film uses the real locations of Anning’s life – the beaches, cliffs, and town where she lived and worked. The Lyme Regis Museum, built on the site of her family home, is the best starting point for understanding her extraordinary story.
Ammonite (2020)
Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan starred in this romantic drama inspired by the life of Mary Anning, the pioneering fossil hunter who lived and worked in Lyme Regis in the early 1800s. Directed by Francis Lee, the film follows an unlikely relationship between Anning and Charlotte Murchison, a London woman of means sent to convalesce by the sea.
Filming took place on location in Lyme Regis in March 2019, and the town underwent an extraordinary transformation. At Bell Cliff, a two-storey fake Georgian house front was erected outside the Seasalt shop. A fake stone wall was built in front of the bus shelter above Cobb Gate car park. Coombe Street’s M L Gibson Studios and Tierra Kitchen were converted inside and out to resemble 1840s shopfronts, complete with a stable yard. The 100-foot ketch Irene, built in Bridgwater in 1907, sailed into the harbour to serve as a period vessel.
Filming also took place at the far end of the Cobb, where set builders hid modern railings, lighting, and signage from view. Additional scenes were shot at Eype Beach (for a picnic sequence) and Charmouth Beach (featuring a historic bathing machine prop).
Kate Winslet was frequently spotted in local restaurants, pubs, and cafes during the extensive location shoot.
Grab a selfie! Bell Cliff Stairs (at the bottom of Broad Street), Coombe Street, and the Cobb are all recognisable from the film. The Ammonite Pavement on Monmouth Beach – the extraordinary natural ledge of fossilised ammonites – is well worth visiting if you’re inspired by Anning’s story.
River Cottage
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage is just a couple of miles up the road in Axminster, so Lyme Regis has featured regularly in his TV series over the years. It’s not unusual to find a TV crew set up on the beach with a makeshift kitchen, filming segments with the Cobb and bay as a backdrop.
The town’s daily catch of fresh fish and seafood has also drawn other TV chefs to film here. Members of the public who visit River Cottage for cookery courses or seasonal feasts often stay with us at Lyme Cottage – it’s just a short drive away.
Broadchurch (2013-2017)
While Broadchurch was primarily filmed at West Bay, 9 miles along the coast from Lyme Regis, the Jurassic Coast connection is worth noting. Creator Chris Chibnall described the show as “a love letter to the scenery of the Jurassic Coast,” and the towering golden sandstone cliffs at West Bay are instantly recognisable to anyone who knows this stretch of coastline.
Some scenes in series two were filmed at the beach huts in Charmouth, just across the bay from Lyme. Olivia Colman’s DS Ellie Miller mentions visiting Lyme Regis during filming breaks. West Bay, the Broadchurch trail, and the dramatic cliff walks make an excellent day trip from Lyme Cottage.
The Literary Connection
Lyme Regis’s screen appearances are part of a much longer tradition. The town has featured in literature for over two centuries:
- Jane Austen – Persuasion (1817), with its famous Cobb scenes
- John Fowles – The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969), written from Belmont House overlooking the Cobb
- Tracy Chevalier – Remarkable Creatures (2009), a novel about Mary Anning
- A.S. Byatt – Possession (1990, Booker Prize winner), and its 2002 film adaptation
There’s something about the light, the landscape, and the history of this town that keeps drawing storytellers back.
Visit the Filming Locations
All of the locations mentioned above are within easy walking distance of Lyme Cottage. The Cobb is quite literally a minute’s walk from the front door – the same harbour wall where Meryl Streep stood in the storm, where Dakota Johnson filmed Persuasion, where Timothee Chalamet arrived as young Wonka, and where Mary Anning hunted for fossils 200 years ago!
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