This episode explores how Oxford becomes a spectacular film set, featuring Harry Potter filming in October 2000, historic costume dramas, and striking archive footage of the city transformed for the screen. In this engaging episode, we explore how Oxford is repeatedly transformed by the magic of film into a vast and vibrant movie set. Drawing on a rich mix of contemporary and archive footage, the programme shows Hollywood productions filming in the streets, colleges, and iconic buildings of Oxford and the University.
Oxford has long attracted filmmakers seeking distinctive and memorable locations. A major focus is the filming of Harry Potter in October 2000, with celebrated locations including Christ Church (used as Hogwarts’ dining hall), the Bodleian Library’s Divinity School (Hogwarts’ infirmary), and New College Quad.
The filming inside the Bodleian Divinity School took place continuously, 24 hours a day over a single weekend, and had to be completed by Monday morning to avoid disrupting the working week for students and staff. The scale of the production was striking: more than 70 vehicles connected to the film were crowded into the streets surrounding Broad Street and Radcliffe Square, demonstrating the logistical impact of a major Hollywood shoot in the heart of the city.
The episode also delves into the archives to uncover colourful footage of earlier large-scale costume dramas. In 1999, Oxford was transformed into revolutionary France for the film Quills, and in 2001 the streets became a backdrop to the English Civil War during the filming of the historical drama To Kill a King. Throughout, crowds of costumed actors, elaborate sets, and extensive film-company equipment bring both history and fantasy vividly to life.
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This episode explores how Oxford becomes a spectacular film set, featuring Harry Potter filming in October 2000, historic costume dramas, and striking archive footage of the city transformed for the screen. In this engaging episode, we explore how Oxford is repeatedly transformed by the magic of film into a vast and vibrant movie set. Drawing on a rich mix of contemporary and archive footage, the programme shows Hollywood productions filming in the streets, colleges, and iconic buildings of Oxford and the University.
Oxford has long attracted filmmakers seeking distinctive and memorable locations. A major focus is the filming of Harry Potter in October 2000, with celebrated locations including Christ Church (used as Hogwarts’ dining hall), the Bodleian Library’s Divinity School (Hogwarts’ infirmary), and New College Quad.
The filming inside the Bodleian Divinity School took place continuously, 24 hours a day over a single weekend, and had to be completed by Monday morning to avoid disrupting the working week for students and staff. The scale of the production was striking: more than 70 vehicles connected to the film were crowded into the streets surrounding Broad Street and Radcliffe Square, demonstrating the logistical impact of a major Hollywood shoot in the heart of the city.
The episode also delves into the archives to uncover colourful footage of earlier large-scale costume dramas. In 1999, Oxford was transformed into revolutionary France for the film Quills, and in 2001 the streets became a backdrop to the English Civil War during the filming of the historical drama To Kill a King. Throughout, crowds of costumed actors, elaborate sets, and extensive film-company equipment bring both history and fantasy vividly to life.
Recruiting March of the Oxfordshire Women's Land Army 1918
Oxford on Film: From Attic to Archive
3 minutes
2 years ago
Recruiting March of the Oxfordshire Women's Land Army 1918
This film was made in April 1918 as a recruitment tool by the government's Women's War department. In this unique episode we look at one of the oldest surviving films of Oxford. Made in April 1918, the film is titled -“Recruiting march and presentation to Princess Mary of the Women's Land Army, Oxford, 1918”. The march begins in St Giles with women entering the enrolment hut by the Martyrs' Memorial. The huge procession goes down the Cornmarket, through Carfax and on to Broad Street. Some of the women are in uniform, and the procession includes a steam tractor. Mr R E Prothero, Minister of Agriculture, leads local city and university officials to Trinity College gardens, where Princess Mary presents awards to the Land Girls. One of the girls shows two baby lambs. The awards continue while the members of the council and the university, one in a Bath chair, watch.
“Recruiting March of the Oxfordshire Women's Land Army,” by Women's War Department. The Imperial War Museum Film Archive via First World War Poetry Digital Archive, accessed March 8, 2023, http://ww1lit.nsms.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/collections/item/5523
Oxford on Film: From Attic to Archive
This episode explores how Oxford becomes a spectacular film set, featuring Harry Potter filming in October 2000, historic costume dramas, and striking archive footage of the city transformed for the screen. In this engaging episode, we explore how Oxford is repeatedly transformed by the magic of film into a vast and vibrant movie set. Drawing on a rich mix of contemporary and archive footage, the programme shows Hollywood productions filming in the streets, colleges, and iconic buildings of Oxford and the University.
Oxford has long attracted filmmakers seeking distinctive and memorable locations. A major focus is the filming of Harry Potter in October 2000, with celebrated locations including Christ Church (used as Hogwarts’ dining hall), the Bodleian Library’s Divinity School (Hogwarts’ infirmary), and New College Quad.
The filming inside the Bodleian Divinity School took place continuously, 24 hours a day over a single weekend, and had to be completed by Monday morning to avoid disrupting the working week for students and staff. The scale of the production was striking: more than 70 vehicles connected to the film were crowded into the streets surrounding Broad Street and Radcliffe Square, demonstrating the logistical impact of a major Hollywood shoot in the heart of the city.
The episode also delves into the archives to uncover colourful footage of earlier large-scale costume dramas. In 1999, Oxford was transformed into revolutionary France for the film Quills, and in 2001 the streets became a backdrop to the English Civil War during the filming of the historical drama To Kill a King. Throughout, crowds of costumed actors, elaborate sets, and extensive film-company equipment bring both history and fantasy vividly to life.
