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Film and TV show locations: seven backdrops drawing the tourist hordes - including one in Hong Kong

From Northern Ireland (Game of Thrones) and Albuquerque (Breaking Bad) to Nathan Road’s Chungking Mansions, top filming locations you can visit in real life

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Holy Trinity Church, in Bledlow, Buckinghamshire, southeast England. The village is a frequent filming location for Midsomer Murders. Picture: Alamy
Tim Pile

Set-jetting is the increasingly popular trend of visiting places where movies and television shows have been shot. Tours hosted by superfans, blogs, online video clips and tourist office initiatives have made it easier than ever to track down global filming venues. So after gorging on all those box sets in your Christmas stocking it’ll be time for a location vacation.

1 Oxfordshire, England

An improbable 250 murders have taken place in the fictional county of Midsomer since the quirky whodunnit first appeared on British TV screens in 1997. Renowned for the imaginatively creative ways characters are killed (spun to death in a tumble drier; drowned in a large bowl of tomato soup), Midsomer Murders is now enjoyed in more than 200 territories worldwide.

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The picture-perfect English villages and towns depicted in the detective drama attract a steady stream of sightseers, including many from Scandinavia, where the show is a ratings juggernaut. Organised tours are available or opt for a DIY approach. Dedicated fansite, visitmidsomer.com provides detailed driving and walking trails that incorporate half-familiar manor houses, churches and thatched cottages. Afterwards, pause for a pint in one of the pubs where Chief Inspector Barnaby and his sergeant ponder enigmas, such as how a magician’s assistant could have been poisoned by the deadly toxin of a tropical frog.
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Teenage girls outside Gerald Durrell's family home in Kalami, on the Greek island of Corfu. Picture: Alamy
Teenage girls outside Gerald Durrell's family home in Kalami, on the Greek island of Corfu. Picture: Alamy

2 Corfu, Greece

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