The Bristol locations used to film ITV drama Manhunt: The Night Stalker

One of the locations was Stapleton Road in Easton. Credit: ITV

The second series of ITV's detective drama Manhunt starts tonight and most of the filming was done in Bristol.

Set in London, Manhunt: The Night Stalker sees Martin Clunes play real-life Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton as he tracks down a notorious serial burglar and rapist.

Much of the four-part series was filmed in Bristol between mid-October and December last year, supported by Bristol Film Office.

The old Bank of England building next to St Mary le Port Church on Bridge Street was completely transformed into a London police station for three weeks.

Other recognisable Bristol locations included A Bond Warehouse on the FloatingHarbour and the Lord Mayor’s Reception Room in City Hall.

You may also recognise the railway arches from Stapleton Road in Easton.

The old Bank of England building in Bridge Street was transformed into a London police station. Credit: ITV

Other Bristol locations you may recognise in the drama

  • Residential streets in Stoke Bishop, Westbury on Trym, Easton, St Paul's, Henbury and Knowle

  • Berkeley Square

  • Victoria Street

  • Wine Street near Castle Park

  • Knowle Cricket Club

  • Henleaze Junior School

  • St Phillips Causeway

  • Gloucester Road

Series producer Jo Willett said moving the majority of the shoot to Bristol was an "extremely good decision".

"We started filming in mid-October 2020, when the Covid figures were rising again after the summer, and continued in Bristol right through until Christmas," she said.

"Bristol went into Tier 3 during our shoot and we ended the Bristol shoot with all thegovernment’s changes of plans over what was allowed for Christmas itself. Not an easy time to be working in close proximity to a large group of fellow professionals."

Martin Clunes stars as DCI Colin Sutton. Credit: ITV

Senior Bristol Film Officer Natalie Moore said: "Big dramas like this bring much needed jobs for Bristol’s strong crew base, which was in greater need than ever of new projects to work on when this shoot began in October, following the challenges of the preceding months caused by the pandemic.

"Filming also generates benefits for businesses in other parts of the local economy, for example hospitality, catering and transport.

“We were pleased to help the team find the best locations that suited their needs, to help them safely contain their cast and crew and carry out a Covid-safe shoot with protocols inplace.”

What is the series about?

The sequel to ITV’s critically acclaimed Manhunt documents the true story of the police investigation of a series of rapes, sexual assaults and burglaries which took place in South East London between 1992 and 2009.

A dedicated unit - Operation Minstead - was set up to hunt down the notorious serial burglar and rapist known as 'the Night Stalker'.

The sex offender's 17-year reign of terror left thousands of elderly people living in fear.

As the suspect continued to evade capture, DCI Colin Sutton was asked in 2009 to review the case.

Working with Detective Superintendent Simon Morgan and the Minstead team, the tenacious detective proposed a strategy he believed could catch one of Britain’s most prolific rapists, focusing a vast surveillance operation around a key area of south east London.

  • Manhunt The Night Stalker begins on ITV on Monday 20 September at 9pm.