The buzziest show on terrestrial telly, ITV’s ‘Passenger’ is a crime thriller with a supernatural twist. ‘Loki’s Wunmi Mosaku plays ex-Met Police officer, DC Riya Ajunwa, who investigates a series of mysterious goings-on in the fictional Lancashire town of Chadder Vale. The series, conceived and written by ‘Broadchurch’ actor Andrew Buchan, unfolds in the town itself and the wintry, shadowy hills and forests outside.
To create this insular community for the six-part series, the production put together a patchwork of locations in Lancashire, Greater Manchester and on the West Yorkshire border. ‘It was really important for us to film this in the north of England,’ says executive producer Lucy Dyke, ‘to bring in local crews and to support the workforce here’. Here’s where they found their Chadder Vale.
Todmorden, West Yorkshire
The main location for Chadder Vale is in the Upper Calder Valley town of Todmorden, previously a location for Emily Blunt film ‘My Summer of Love’ and legendary BBC drama ‘Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit’. ‘We found our town of Chadder Vale just to the north of Manchester, near a place called Todmorden,’ says Dyke, ‘which is allegedly the place where the most UFOs have ever been seen in the UK.’ Is there a clue there?
The White House pub, Littleborough
Chadder Vale’s local, The Dog & Duck, was filmed at two separate locations in the Pennines. Interiors were filmed at The Glen View Inn in Cornholme, while the pub’s roadside exteriors were filmed at The White House, a boozer with incredible views of the surrounding moors and beauty spot Hollingworth Lake, in Littleborough about ten miles away. ‘Cornholme has this eerie quality to it,’ explains executive producer Lucy Dyke of the location. ‘Between November and February, the sun never rises above the hills which gives it this kind of slightly “other” quality, which is really important to us for Chadder Vale.’
Britannia Chip Shop, Rossendale
No British town – fictional or otherwise – is going without a good fish and chip shop, and Chadder Vale’s is called Charlie’s Chippy. IRL, it was filmed at Britannia Chip Shop in Bacup, Lancashire. ‘Great chippy,’ raves 432seanf on TripAdvisor. ‘Curry sauce some of the best around.’ The location is also used as Mehmet’s (Shervin Alenabi) house in the show.
Haigh Woodland Park
The spooky woods outside of Chadder Vale are actually not-quite-as-spooky woods just outside of Wigan: specifically, Haigh Woodland Park, a beauty spot with a plantation of beech trees and 40 miles of paths. ‘Passenger’ filmed there in March 2023, covering the area in fake snow to create its eerie, wintry look. ‘The forest is a really key location for us,’ says Dyke. ‘Not just because it adds the eerie mystery thriller sense to the show, but because it is so beautiful.’
The Mercury Motel, Bolton
Chadder Vale’s carvery, a key spot where locals gather in the show, was filmed at Bolton’s Mercury Motel. The motel got a free refurb out of it, with new carpets put down, walls painted and the lounge transformed into a vintage canteen for the shoot. ‘I think the Carvery really helps us to understand what kind of a place this is,’ says exec-producer Lucy Dyke.
Old Robert Fletcher Paper Mill
A paper mill that dates back to the Industrial Revolution, the Old Robert Fletcher factory has been derelict for more than 20 years. Leaking roofs and a small colonising army of pigeons didn’t deter the show’s location manager Danny Newton from using it for the exteriors of Derek Jackson’s bread factory. ‘[Chadder Vale] is supposed to feel like a town in the north of England that does deal with poverty, which does deal with socio-economic crisis,’ says Dyke, ‘but still has enormous community spirit. I think the bread factory really helps us exemplify that.’ The factory’s interiors, including Derek’s office, were filmed at an old BHS store in Bolton’s Crompton Place shopping centre.
Cornholme & Portsmouth Old Library, Todmorden
Chadder Vale police station was filmed at two locations: the offices of DC Riya Ajunwa and her fellow police officers were shot at Manchester’s Riverbank Trading Estate, while the exteriors were filmed at Cornholme’s old library, now a food bank run by a local community group.
Belle Vue Amateur Boxing Club, Manchester
The town’s boxing club and gym, where Riya spas with the smitten Jakub (Hubert Hanowicz), was filmed at Manchester’s Belle Vue – a legendary local boxing club since 1929.
How can I watch Passenger?
The full series is available to watch on ITVX now. Episodes screen on ITV on Sunday and Monday at 9pm over the next fortnight.
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