Easter on the Box: Easter Day Television

Easter Day

What’s on television this Easter Day? This year we think the best options are the classics, so get ready to spot some familiar filming locations and relive those great TV and film moments.

Go back a couple of centuries with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle in Pride and Prejudice, as they appear in some genuinely historical filming locations. Alternatively, catch the train to Cottingley in Yorkshire, where two Edwardian girls photograph fairies in their natural habitat.

Later on, there are Easter Bunny adventures with a tinge of the usual Dibley chaos, before Groundhog Day brings us a never ending day from Punxsutawney’s onscreen stand-in.

From 3pm Drama

Pride and Prejudice

If you missed the Pride and Prejudice extravaganza on New Year’s Day, or you just want to pay another visit to Pemberley, this is your chance. The 1995 mini series is being shown from start to finish from 3pm.

South facade of Lyme Park house
By Julie Anne Workman (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons


Wondering where that little pocket of Georgian elegance was found in late Twentieth Century Britain? The answer is, in and around Wiltshire.

Luckington Court, a privately owned house in the county, was used as the setting for homely Longbourne, along with the neighbouring church of St Mary with St Ethelbert. Village scenes were filmed in Lacock, which you might also recognise as Godric’s Hollow in the Harry Potter films. Several rooms of the village’s ancient Lacock Abbey were used for Pemberley interior shots, with Lyme Park in Cheshire providing the exterior and Mr Darcy’s lake.

National Trust members can get into both Pemberley locations with their membership cards, though as always, check opening times before you plan your Jane Austen themed trip.

4.25pm Channel Five

FairyTale: A True Story

One of two similar movies to appear around the same time, FairyTale tells the story of the Cottingley Fairies. Over a century ago, two Bradford girls revealed a set of convincing photographs of themselves with fairies, confounding experts with their detailed cut-outs.

The film was shot on location across the country, with many scenes filmed in Yorkshire, close to the scene of the events.

Various parts of Cottingley appear onscreen, along with Keighley Railway Station, which is on the same line as the station used in The Railway Children (1970). FairyTale: A True Story filming locations also pop up in the South East, with Houdini appearing at two different London theatres.

5.35pm BBC1

Vicar of Dibley: The Easter Bunny

The Dibley village location gets one of its most prominent roles, as the villagers are individually told to take over as Easter Bunny. As usual, Geraldine ends up in a weird situation that only gets more unbelievable at every turn, so if you’re in the mood for some good-natured Easter mischief, tune in for the classic episode.

9pm Gold

Groundhog Day

The real Punxsutawney Phil lives in Pennsylvania, where the weather-predicting groundhog really does come out every 2nd February to predict when winter will end.

Groundhog Day 2005 in Punxsutawney
By Aaron Silvers [http://www.flickr.com/people/silvers/], via Wikimedia Commons


But in the film, Woodstock, Illinois stands in for the town of Punxsutawney. The park where the ground hog given his verdict is in the centre, but that’s not all. The street where Ned greets a reluctant Phil, and the location used for exterior shots of Phil’s piano tutor’s house, aren’t far away.

We’re saving the best for last, though. Just south of the town centre is the Cherry Street Inn filming location, which at the time of writing is home to the Royal Victorian Manor guest house. None of our team have visited in person, but we like to think the hot water is more reliable than its movie counterpart’s.