The C&PRR has become increasingly well known and used as a major filming location in the last few years. This valuable income and exposure helps promote the Railway to the wider world and attracts film tourists to the area, boosting the local economy.
The line was opened in the 1870s with passenger services ending in 1957. The line remained open for coal and cement traffic to and from Chinnor cement works until 30 years ago. The rural hilly line has remained largely unchanged in the last 75 years making it a superb railway filming location and with the new station at Princes Risborough, a modern station location, it offers both heritage and modern settings which have all been used as major film locations.
For any scenes and filming staged at locations not normally accessible to the public, for example on the track itself, access is strictly controlled and supervised by qualified and authorised Railway volunteers.
Who and what has been filmed more recently at Chinnor?
Over a decade ago, Midsomer Murders and The Train Pirates starring Brain Blessed have been filmed at the Railway. In more recent times, filming sessions have also included:
2021 Grantchester - ITV Period Drama set in the 1950s with Tom Brittney (Outlander) alongside Robson Green (Soldier Soldier) as DI Geordie Keating. The latest episode concluded on TV screens in mid April 2022, with part of the action filmed at Chinnor station. It was carefully arranged during Covid with all the necessary built-in health and safety requirements.
2019 The Dig - BBC Films and Netflix major joint production - set in 1939 with Chinnor station turned into Woodbridge in Suffolk, featuring a world-famous cast (released mid January 2021, followed by streaming on Netflix on 29 January 2021).
2017 The Grand Tour and Top Gear
2017 A Dutch soap episode
2018 A Bollywood movie (honest!)
2019 BBC Silent Witness (shown in January 2020).
The Railway has a large car park (adjacent to Chinnor station) which can accommodate major film set make-up and food wagons, cars and HGVs.
Chinnor station, an award winning replica building, is built in traditional Chiltern style using flints while Princes Risborough station is a modern 21st century station.
Midsomer Murders and Silent Witness have been filmed at both Chinnor and Princes Risborough stations and also a quarter of a mile along the line in a deep cutting.
In between there are two wayside halts, Wainhill and Bledlow, which recreate Victorian and Edwardian era platforms. The traditional wooden level crossing at Wainhill, with a crossing keepers cottage, was used in Grand Tour filming in late 2017 when a Fiat Panda was raced against a a train with the level crossing gates removed and the road closed.
Contact for TV & Film Location Managers
Please do call us on 07979 055366, or email enquiries@chinnorrailway.co.uk.
We very much look forward to discussing and meeting your requirements - thank you!