If you loved seeing scenes of Bath in all its Regency-era glory in the Netflix hit Bridgerton, we have another hot TV tip for you – McDonald & Dodds. 

Cast and crew for the ITV series were spotted filming in Bath towards the end of 2020, suggesting that the second series of the detective drama will once again be set in the city. 

If you didn’t catch it, the first series of McDonald & Dodds aired in March 2020, starring Tala Gouveia and Jason Watkins as ‘odd couple’ detective duo McDonald and Dodds. You may remember Gouveia from Cold Feet, while Watkins is perhaps best known for playing Prime Minister Harold Wilson in The Crown. 

Across two feature-length episodes, the mismatched detectives set out to solve murder cases in the streets of Bath. 

Residents and regular visitors to Bath spotted many of the city’s most famous landmarks and locations in the series, including Bath Abbey, The Circus, Pulteney Bridge and of course, the Royal Crescent. If you’re a fan of Bath’s stunning Regency style, it’s a real treat to see it on the small screen. 

Season 2 of McDonald & Dodds to air soon – and there’s a hot air balloon involved

The brand new series of McDonald & Dodds is due to air weekly from Sunday 28th February, with a series of three episodes planned. 

And according to social media videos shared by the Royal Crescent Society, at least one of the episodes will feature a dramatic hot air balloon launch from the iconic landmark. Regular visitors to the city are no strangers to balloons rising lazily in the skies above Royal Victoria Park, but why could one be taking off from the Royal Crescent? Well, you’ll need to watch the series to find out. 

Other reported filming locations for McDonald & Dodds series two include Bath Racecourse, Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths. 

Speaking about filming in the city, producer Sarah Lewis had only glowing words to say about Bath. She told The Express:

“We kind of consider Bath as one of our characters.

“It’s so beautiful, it’s such a gorgeous city, people are so welcoming to us as well.

“As a city, it’s not massive, so we have already covered a lot of places but we did definitely explore the Royal Crescent in this first episode, a little bit more than we’d have been before.

“In episode two, we see a much younger cast and storyline so we see a different part of Bath that we haven’t really seen before.

“We see the Roman Baths we haven’t filmed there before, we were at Abbey Green which we did use last year but we’ve used different parts this year.”

The new series of McDonald & Dodds will see Tala Gouveia and Jason Watkins reprise their titular roles, but you should also look out for a few guest stars on the streets of Bath. These include Rob Bryden, Martin Kemp, Sarah Parish and Patsy Kensit, who are all lined up to appear in the new episodes. We can’t wait!

Keep up with all the latest events and news in Bath on the Bath Holiday Rentals blog.