Guy Ritchie’s latest project, eight-part Netflix series The Gentleman, sees Eddie Horniman (Theo James) enter Britain’s criminal underworld after he inherits his father’s grand country estate. While the family seems like respectable aristocracy from afar, Eddie’s father had a secret worth millions of pounds – a cannabis empire run by Bobby Glass (Ray Winstone).
While Bobby orchestrates the empire from an open prison, enjoying lavish steak dinners and tending to the resident pigeons, his daughter Susie (Kaya Scodelario) oversees the day-to-day affairs of the business across several country estates.
Here are some of the key locations used in the filming of The Gentleman, from the opulent Horniman Estate to the Glass Empire's gangster-occupied hideouts.
The Badminton Estate, Gloucestershire
While some scenes of The Gentleman were filmed on stage sets at Alperton Studios in Wembley, London, the exterior of Halstead Manor, the fictional home of the Horniman family, is The Badminton Estate.
The real-life home of the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort is a popular filming location and wedding venue in the south Gloucestershire countryside. Viewers with a keen eye may recognise the property from Netflix favourite Bridgerton and movies including Pearl Harbour and 28 Days Later.
The sprawling estate has been occupied for thousands of years, and the remains of several Roman villas surround the main home. The medieval property was owned by the Boteler family before Edward Somerset, fourth Earl of Worcester, purchased the manors of Great and Little Badminton in 1612. It’s his son, Sir Thomas Somerset, who made significant alterations to the original house, and the property has captured the imagination of high society and even the royal family over the centuries – Charles II stayed in the house, and The late Queen Elizabeth II was a regular visitor to the annual Horse Trials.
“Badminton felt immediately right for Halstead,” says supervising location Manager Iggy Ellis, “because it’s a proper, lived-in home rather than a National Trust museum. So inside, there’d be some walking sticks by the door or a few shotgun rounds from where they’d been out shooting. There were cracks and tired bits, as you’d get in every family home. But there was also oil painting and history and majesty. It felt perfect for our story.”
Loseley Park, Surrey
While The Badminton Estate is now instantly recognisable as Halstead Manor, some of the exterior and interior scenes were filmed at Loseley Park, a stately home and wedding venue in Surrey, a short drive from Guildford.
Loseley House has been a lived-in home for over 500 years and has seen its fair share of historic events. The grounds double up as the woodlands surrounding Halstead Manor, where we see Jethro (Josh Finan) pursued by Eddie and Geoff Seacombe (Vinnie Jones) after “the liability” Freddie Horniman (Daniel Ings) shoots Tommy Dixon (Peter Serafinowicz). This is also where we find Geoff’s real-life groundsman cottage.
Stoke Court, Buckinghamshire
The Badminton Estate gets much of the credit for appearing as the exterior of the fictional Halstead Manor, but some of the interior scenes used Stoke Court in Buckinghamshire.
Stoke Court is home to the study, where Freddie shoots Liverpudlian drug dealer Tommy after a memorable scene featuring a chicken costume, Halstead Manor’s boot room, drawing room and orangery.
The real-life property is best known for its association with mid-18th-century poet Thomas Gray, who holidayed there during his childhood.
Wrotham Park, Hertfordshire
Wrotham Park in Hertfordshire plays the part of the home of extravagantly wealthy drug lord Stanley Johnson, aka Bridgewater House. The neo-Palladian English country house was designed by Isaac Ware in 1754, and it’s where we see Susie Glass and Stanley engage in a polite-ish war of words over his desire to take over her father’s empire.
London
The Gentleman’s filming locations depict two sides of the coin: lavish country houses owned by the landed gentry and hideouts used by the criminal underworld. For the latter, the locations team looked to London.
Locations used across the capital include The Reform Club in Pall Mall, which doubled up for Pinky’s Club, and Billingsgate Market, which is mentioned by name in the series as the headquarters of the Liverpudlian drug group.
The exterior shots of the Croydon Tower Block were taken at Brandon Estate, while the boxing ring is the now-closed party venue Printworks in Rotherhithe.
The Gentleman is available to stream on Netflix now.