Is Denton a fictitous location. I live in stockport and am only a few miles from a place called Denton. I've wondered this for years, becuase most of the time I don't recognise any of the places he goes to, but on the odd ocasion I watch it it and think, I recognise that place. I'm sure in one episode he was on stockport market. I could be wrong. If anyone can help i'd be very appreciative.
shareThe Denton I live in (the one near you) definitely, incontrovertibly exists. There are, I believe, around six Dentons in England, and while it could be one of those a safer bet is to think of it as fiction....
shareIts fictional, some were filmed in Leeds and surrounding areas. Link is to an episode filmed at the air museum at Elvington
http://archive.thisisyork.co.uk/2002/6/11/284868.html
Dave
There are a lot of very recognisable West Yorkshire locations: Roundhay Park lake and the lakeside cafe; Elmete Lane nearby; the Catholic church in Roundhay; the city centre of Leeds; Mytholmes tunnel on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.
shareDenton is a ficktiv town in UK. Like Aidensfield, in Heartbeat.
shareFor what it's worth, whenever a map of Denton is shown in an episode, it's in fact a map of Swindon, Wiltshire, with the name changed to Denton...
shareAs others have said it is fictional.
Along with the map of "Denton" (that's really Swindon) they have mentioned (in passing) that "closish" towns are Reading and Basingstoke. So that would put Denton somewhere in the M4 corridor. Which is where Swindon is.
Somewhere around here:
<http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=swindon&ie=UTF8&ll=51.452295,-1.422729&spn=0.516037,1.426849&om=1>;
So it's not a million miles from "Morse Country" nor far from Midsommer County (or at least where I would imagine it to be!).
The odd thing that other's have mentioned is that locations for this show are often in the North with Millstone Grit replacing the Sandstone so its rather an odd look for its intended location but it does have a down at heel appearance.
The other oddity (at least in the early shows) is an old feel -- the film stock doesn't have great colour rendition; the lighting is flat; Frost clothes are the best C&A has to offer. It really feels like a 1980s show. I'm still not sure if this is intended -- I suspect it might be to place the show in an environment like the original novels where written in the 1980s.
Denton is indeed a real town, it is about 4 miles up the A362 from Crinkley Bottom.
shareDenton from the show doesn't exist. It is supposed to be around Bristol or Bath or somewhere along the M40 near Oxford and High Wycombe and Maidenhead.
There is a Denton near Oxford, but it's a tiny hamlet with about 20 people living in it. You'd not get very interesting murder stories from there.
Hi Denton is a ficticious place although there are several in the uk. it is suposed to be set in the thames valley, in reality it is all shot in leeds though - hope this helps.
menzies
frost production office
I noticed a fair bit of Bracknell in there too. Seems Denton stretches across the entire map!
shareThat is probably planned and is a good thing. The location of the Vicar of Dibley is secret so you don't get loads of tourists! PG Woodhouse used a similar technique to suggest the location of Blandings Castle, but remember it is fiction..............
shareTheres loads of Dentons but Frost's Denton is roughly in the M4 corridor area as in the episode "Keys to the Car" Frost has to travel to Crawley which is dquoted to be "60 miles away". I'm sure its meant to be Thames Valley or Berkshire Constabulary.
The Swindon map thing is hilarious but most probably true.
I believe a lot of it has been filmed in Leeds and West Yorkshire as I have recognised some of the City Centre scenes as being Leeds itself.
Once or twice Frost has driven right up to the Courthouse which you cannot do as its a Bus Lane. I know this because I got lost in Leeds once and went into the Bus Lane and got pulled over by the local police.
Ironically its the police who are allegedly killing Frost off as RD Wingfield's nephew was arrested in connection with a item being stolen and because he wasnt treated like royalty because of his uncle, Wingfield is threatening not to write anymore which I think is a shame.
In one episode (can't remember which), George has some papers in his hand, on which it says "Thames Valley Police" ;-)
shareThames Valley police covers, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, which is a huge area.
They always Denton Police.
I guess as Yorkshire made the show it's fair to say they filmed mostly up there, but the show appears to have a mostly southern feel to it, and I'm not referring specifically to David Jason, but also many of the other actors both regulars and one offs.
Someone mentioned Bristol and Bath and Swindon then referred to High Wycombe and Maidenhead, well the latter 2 are far nearer London than they are Bristol or Bath.
Funny it's one of the few shows that truly hides it's setting.
Even Midsomer is pretty obviously rural parts of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
I was watching a repeat last night and noticed that in "Paying the Price"
shareIt isn't a secret. It's Turville. Goodnight Mr Tom was filmed there too. It gets tons of tourists and even the local pub has theme named dishes.
sharethe denton in the show is mainly filmed around the leeds, wakefield and bradford areas...
love is a losing game...
Quite a bit is recorded in the Pontefract/Castleford area. Pontefract General Infirmary is normally used for any hospital scenes and the town hall has also been featured. I knew someone who was an extra in a few scenes from an early series.
shareJust a quick note, In one episode you saw the postcode suffix DN (presumably to indicate denton) when DN is in fact Doncaster in South Yorkshire.
shareThey have filmed in loads of places. They filmed it once in Halton a couple of streets away from my Nana's house. They walked past the William Hill bookies and I've also noticed them in Seacroft hospital.
The one I noticed right away was on the Main Street in Garforth (where I lived until a couple of weeks ago), but that may have had something to do with the fact that I was there when they filmed it. It's the episode when Frost pulls the car out in front of a suspected murderer and pretends to have done it accidentally and the armed police arrest him.
This is an old thread and no one has posted here for weeks so it might be a while before anyone reads this.
I was watching an episode on cable tv yesterday (Sunday Sep 2nd) and there was a Kentish oast house in the background, like the one in the picture. I'm Australian but I lived in Sevenoaks for two years. My understanding was that these oast houses are particular to Kent and East Surrey, suggesting that this episode at least might have been filmed in that area. There was nothig in the story to suggest that they had travelled any great distance from Denton.
http://www.a1tourism.com/uk/whitepost.html
There is a Denton near Oxford, but it's a tiny hamlet with about 20 people living in it. You'd not get very interesting murder stories from there.
I know this is an old thread but I have seen them filming it near where i live in Leeds, its filmed all around where i grew up, went to school etc, its fascinating to watch them filming it! bit surreal too, to then see it on tv...
shareAs often as characters refer to the place, and its various locations, one has to admire the tenacity in convincing the audience that Denton is real. Some of the locations mention: River Denton (Denton River to we Yanks), Denton University, Denton Wood, Denton FC, Denton High Street, etc.). I love that so many references are made to the place and its many locales.
share