Bolton is leaning into its ‘Hollywood of the North’ nickname by launching new TV and film location tours around the town centre.
Merely months after being named Greater Manchester’s new ‘Town of Culture’, Bolton is already proving why 2024 is its year, as the town is celebrating its shiny new title by celebrating all the times it has been chosen as a filming location for dozens of major film and TV productions over the years.
Over the last decade or so, the Greater Manchester town centre and wider borough has become a favourite for production crews looking to replicate other well-known worldwide locations.
London, New York, and even Moscow are just a couple of the cities Bolton has doubled-up as.
Bolton has launched new ‘Hollywood of the North’ TV and film location tours / Credit: Channel 4 | BBC
Thanks to its cobbled town centre streets – including the iconic Le Mans Crescent – historic buildings and architecture, and striking rural landscapes, camera crews for popular TV shows such as Peaky Blinders, It’s A Sin, Brassic, The Stranger, Fool Me Once, and A Gentleman in Moscow have all rolled into town in recent times.
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Happy Valley, Coronation Street, Top Gear, and The Full Monty are just a couple of the others, and two BBC series, Alma’s Not Normal and Red Rose, are even set in Bolton too, as well as being filmed there.
So as you can see, it definitely makes sense why the town has been given the ‘Hollywood of the North’ nickname,
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It also makes sense why Bolton Council would want to pay tribute to this by launching a series of tours that taking people around key filming spots with a dedicated tour guide providing fascinating insight on where all the hit shows and films have been shot along the way.
The behind-the-scenes tours are led by local historian and professional tour guide, Suzanne Hindle / Credit: BBC
These new behind-the-scenes tours will feature all of the town’s famous filming spots, and visitors will get to explore places such as court rooms, cells, and Crescent corridors whilst hearing tales of how the industry adapt these unexpected locations to set the scene.
The Bolton TV & Film Tours are led by local historian and professional tour guide, Suzanne Hindle, and will kick off next Sunday (30 August), with others running on selected weekend dates until Friday 4 October.
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The tours are suitable for ages 16 and over, last approximately 90-minutes each, and are free to attend, although pre-booking is required and places are limited to 20.
Manchester’s iconic inflatable monsters are set to invade the city centre again this Halloween
Emily Sergeant
Dozens of huge inflatable monsters are set to invade Manchester next month, as Halloween returns to the city for 2024.
Yes, it’s that time of year yet again… the monsters are back.
After several years of looming over Manchester‘s most-notable rooftops and lurking around famous city centre sites, it’s been revealed that the iconic MCR Monsters will be returning for another year of spooky celebrations next month, along with loads of other terrifying tricks and treats – with something for the whole family to get involved with.
Organisers CityCo and Manchester BID are gearing up to “roll out the blood-red carpet” for its legendary and monstrous guests in a couple of weeks time.
This year’s annual Halloween in the City celebrations will kick off with a week-long colourful invasion of the MCR Monsters, before being followed by a two-day family festival across the city’s popular shopping destinations.
Halloween is returning to the city for loads of spooky celebrations next month / Credit: CityCo (via Supplied)
Crawling their way back into the city from Friday 25 October through to Halloween itself on Thursday 31 October, the epic MCR Monsters inflatable art trail – which is created by artists Filthy Luker and Pedro Estrellas – will be taking over leading locations like Manchester Arndale, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Corn Exchange, and New Century, with many more sites set to be announced soon.
A brand-new monster called ‘The Leech’ will be heading to town to join to celebrations this year, alongside some other spookily-similar faces from years’ past.
Buildings across the city will also be turning a ghoulish green once the night falls, while you can also expect to see thousands of little pumpkin lanterns adorning the city’s streets once again.
There’ll be something for all the family to / Credit: CityCo (via Supplied)
Some of the other fan-favourite events on the jam-packed Halloween in the City lineup confirmed to be returning this year are the ‘Monsters Rock! Music Festival’, with spooky live bands and DJs, as well as gruesome games and competitions, the popular ‘Team Trick v Team Treat’ fancy dress challenge, and the hair-raising monster procession ‘Rock! Party Procession’ – which will feature giant puppet monsters, stilt walkers, and a live band marching their way through Manchester Arndale and on Market Street.
Thousands of families are expected to come into the city centre dressed in their scariest costumes over Halloween weekend on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 October.
Jane Sharrocks, who is the Chair of Manchester BID, said Manchester is set to transform into the “ultimate Halloween playground” this year, and that organisers are planning 2024 to be the “most thrilling year yet”.
“As the first UK city to host these incredible creatures, Manchester has become the ultimate Halloween destination,” Jane added.
Halloween in the City officially returns to Manchester on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 October, with the monsters descending from Friday 25 October and the pumpkins potentially even earlier, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled.
Featured Image – CityCo (via Supplied)
What's On
Cultplex’s annual horror film festival returns to GRUB next month
Danny Jones
A much-loved staple of Manchester’s spooky season is returning this autumn as the STAB Season film festival lands back at Cultplex next month.
Part of GRUB over at Red Bank, Cultplex is one of the best small-screen cinemas and hidden gems full stop to be found in the city centre; as the name would suggest, they celebrate fan favourite films, video games, cool nerd stuff and all things culty.
And don’t worry, by culty we mean the stuff people are obsessed with – there’s no risk of stumbling across old people donning hooded cloaks like in Hot Fuzz or anything, we promise.
However, that film is a very good example of the kind of fandom this Manchester ‘mini-cini’ champions, and this October it will once again be taken over by a whole host of horror movies and more as part of the month-long festival.
Promising to deliver “a month of sinister cinema that isn’t for the faint of heart” and be “the biggest yet”, the 2024 STAB Film Season over at Cultplex kicks off on Wednesday, 2 October and doesn’t stop until the start of November.
With this year’s lineup featuring sci-fi and supernatural classics such as The Exorcist (1973) and Alien (1979) – and that’s just the double-bill they’ve booked in for Halloween night – as well as full-on movie marathons, special spooky one-offs and other events.
We’re talking quizzes, Q&A and binging of TV box sets just to name a few. Basically, it’s going to be equal parts terrifying and terrific.
Kicking off the city’s longest-lasting horror movie festival with their annual airing of 1974’s locally-shot-yet-criminally-underseen The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (now THAT is what you call a cult film), before swinging headlong into Wes Craven’s hit slasher franchise Scream and Korean zombie hit Train to Busan (2016), this thing is going to move at a mile a minute.
It’ll be Halloween before you know it. You can find the full STAB Film Season 2024 line-up below:
Date
What’s on at STAB Film Season – Cultplex @ GRUB
Wednesday, 2 October
19:30 – The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (1974)
Thursday, 3 October
20:30 – Sprechen: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari + live score
13:30 – The Addams Family (1991) 16:00 – The Blob (1988) 19:00 – Zombie All-Nighter ft. Train to Busan (2016), Return of the Living Dead (1985), REC (2007) and Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979)
Sunday, 13 October
16:00 – Interview With The Vampire (1994)
Wednesday, 16 October
19:30 – Halloween Quiz Show
Friday, 18 October
18:00 – Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace (2004 — and our pick of the bunch*)
Sunday, 20 October
13:00 – TRASHFEST with Andrew Leovald Q&A 16:00 – CULT CLUB: The Mummy (1999)
Wednesday, 23 October
19:30 – GASP: Suspiria (1977)
Thursday, 24 October
19:30 – MAGHOUL (amateur video game night – but scary)
13:00 – A Lovely Time: The Simpsons ‘Treehouse of Horror’ Quiz 13:30 – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) 16:00 – In The Mouth of Madness (1994) + Nick Helm Podcast 20:00 – A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) for Freddy K’s 40th B-Day Party
Sunday, 27 October
13:00 – Movie Church: Bride of Frankenstein (1935) 16:00 – Linnea Quigley’s Horror Workout (1990) 19:00 – Tetsuo The Iron Man (1989)
Wednesday, 30 October
19:30 – Arrow Film Club: Ju-on The Grudge (2002)
Thursday, 31 October – HALLOWEEN!
19:30 – Double-bill: The Exorcist (1973) + Alien (1979)
Halloween and horror fans won’t need convincing on this one, you already know the drill.
You can expect all this and loads more surprises we wouldn’t dare spoil for you when STAB Film Season kicks off at Cultplex next month.
And the best part is, you’re already at GRUB, so proper good food and drink is right on your doorstep. Just try not to throw it all in the air when the jumpscares start.
Full-season listings can be found HERE with tickets for all events available to book now – if you’re brave enough. It’s not the only thing fright fans can look forward to this year either…
Emily Sergeant -
21st August 2024 
