Holding location guide: Where is the Graham Norton adaptation filmed?
"The landscape is definitely another character in the show," Conleth Hill exclusively told RadioTimes.com.
Graham Norton’s novel Holding has moved to the small screen as a four-part murder mystery of the same name.
Conleth Hill and Siobhán McSweeney lead the cast in the ITV adaptation of Norton's book, which follows local police officer PJ Collins (Conleth Hill) who leads a peaceful existence in the sleepy town of Duneen in Ireland – that is, until human remains are discovered on a local farm, and PJ is tasked with solving a serious crime for the first time in his career.
The series also co-stars Derry Girls' Siobhan McSweeney, Peaky Blinders' Charlene McKenna, and Oscar winner Brenda Fricker.
But where was the ITV series filmed, and did it take place in County Cork, where Graham Norton's book is set?
Ahead of ITV Holding’s epic finale, read on for everything you need to know about where Holding was filmed.
Where is ITV drama Holding set?
The drama is set in Duneen, a fictional village in West Cork, in Ireland.
PJ Collins is used to getting by day-to-day with nothing much happening in the sleepy village – that is, until human remains are discovered locally and he's forced to get to the bottom of a 20-year-old cold case murder.
Where was Holding filmed?
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Holding's Conleth Hill revealed that the majority of the series was filmed in West Cork, Ireland, with most taking place in the likes of Skibbereen, Drimoleague and Castletownshend.
"We filmed in two different villages in West Cork," Conleth explained. "The main... shop and everything else, the bar - were all in Drimoleague. And then they - everything was on location. There's no studio, there was no things [made] specially... It was all in and around Skibbereen and all West Cork, we didn't travel very far."
He continued: "I think that the landscape is definitely another character in it... The weird thing about West Cork is you've got this cosmopolitan element, but you've also this still very rural element. And so you have all these mixes and contradictions within that place.
"The way they talk about it within the script, you know, [PJ] says that people looked at a map and decided this [West Cork] was the safest place to live in the world from fallout from nuclear [war]. So there's an argument that it's a place that people go to hide as well."
Speaking at a press event, series writer and executive producer Karen Cogan said: “It was a case of getting there as soon as possible and making sure we film there [in Cork].
“The juxtaposition of dark and light is very typical [of] Ireland and especially Cork, there [are] so many contradictions to the place. It made us cement that tone of light and dark.
"It’s very inherently Irish and every new place we went to was exciting. It all lifted us up. Every place felt like a ‘tick’ that we were in the right physical place to do it.”
Cast and crew took over the village of Drimoleague for three days in August 2021, transforming an art gallery into a West Cork bar.
Local man Paul O’Brien told CorkBeo: “The crew were very busy setting up and Kathy Burke, the director, was spotted earlier.
“The premises where they are shooting was a pub that closed down a few years ago, it's been opened as art gallery, the Corner Gallery, and the interior is still a pub so it probably works very well for them.”
Is Duneen a real place?
The remote Irish village of Duneen in the ITV drama is not a real place.
Castletownshend was used as the fictional village of Duneen. Cast and crew wrapped filming in this location in October 2021.
Holding began airing on ITV on Monday 14th March at 9pm. You can find something to watch with our TV Guide.
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