Many film crews have put the town’s landmarks and scenery to use, so here’s a look at 13 TV shows and movies filmed at locations around the borough.
9. Testimony
Award-winning director Tony Palmer used several Wigan locations to masquerade as Leningrad for the 1987 film Testimony, starring Sir Ben Kingsley as the great Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich. Eckersley Mills, Trencherfield Mill, Haigh Hall and Mesnes Park all featured. Palmer told Wigan Today that after he attended the Russian premiere with Shostakovich's widow, audience members couldn't believe the movie hadn't been shot in their country! Photo: submit
10. Sherlock Holmes: The Master Blackmailer
Jeremy Brett and Robert Hardy were filmed at the now dilapidated Winstanley Hall for a 1992 episode of ITV's Sherlock Holmes series called The Master Blackmailer Photo: submit
11. Memory Lane
Standish's Kilhey Court Hotel - which, by the way, once accommodated Hollywood A-lister Russell Crowe for a night - welcomed the cast and crew of Memory Lane in 2014 Photo: submit
12. Peaky Blinders
The ever popular Peaky Blinders used Eckersley Mills for location shooting during the hit series's fourth season Photo: KMS Motorsport