City Guide Filming in Norwich, UK
Production Permit Fees
- Permit Fee - £0
Minimum Insurance
- Public Liability Insurance - £5,000,00
Additional Permits
Discounts
About Norwich
While Norwich may have a strange name that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times and is pronounced Nor-itch, not Nor-witch, it's a Norfolk County city that's no stranger to film crews. Norwich embraces the arts in all their forms. It may have been bestowed the honor of being the first UNESCO City of Literature, but it also welcomes filmmakers with open arms.
Dominated by a medieval castle, now a museum, that sits on a hill in the city center, Norwich has more historic buildings than any other city in the UK. It's those countless historical relics and the city's creative atmosphere that have persuaded more than a few directors to film their projects there.
Norwich's 12th-century cathedral has played a major role in several movies, including the 2013 Jack The Giant Slayer featuring Ewan McGregor and Stanley Tucci, the 2017 film Tulip Fever starring Dame Judi Dench, and the not-so-well-known 2006 Elizabethan period comedy, Dean Spanley.
Any Henry Cavill fan will remember his appearance in the 2007 award-winning fantasy, Stardust. What you won't realize is it, too, was filmed at various locations in Norwich, including Elm Hill. Mr. Cavill is not the only A-list star to walk the streets of Norwich either.
Norwich can be seen in all of the following films:
2013 – Alpha Papa starring Alan Partridge
2015 – 45 Years with Charlotte Rampling
2015 – Avengers Age of Ultron filmed at the University of East Anglia
2019 – Fighting With My Family featuring Mr. Black Adam himself, Dwayne Johnson
2020 – Jingle Jangle with Madalen Mills
2022 – Good Luck To You, starring Emma Thompson
The list could go on and on but has to stop somewhere. In reality, Norwich and the countryside that surrounds it has been converted by filmmakers into everything from 18th-century villages to Korean paddy fields. The nearby vintage railway, Mid-Norfolk Railway, has seen its fair share of filming action too. The settings are the envy of even the most seasoned Los Angeles filmmakers.
The one thing you won't be if you're considering filming Norwich is the first to have done it, you certainly won't be the last either. This city is a magnet for filmmakers so if you're already feeling its irresistible attraction, take a look at the filming locations available on Giggster. It's a lot quicker than wandering around Norwich suffering deja vu every time you see somewhere familiar you've seen in one production or another.
Because the city is such a popular filming location, the authorities have film regulations and guidelines in Norwich set in place for production companies with an aim to keep the country bumpkins happy. Follow those, and no matter whether you're shooting a period drama, an alien invasion, or the next blockbusting romantic fantasy, you won't fall foul of the law or the local yokels.
Do I Need a Filming Permit in Norwich?
England being England, the paperwork you'll need to be able to film in Norwich isn't generally called a permit but permissions licenses or location agreements.
Before you can get as far as completing any forms relevant to your proposed filming activities, you will need to contact the permission-giving authority in person. This should be done at least two weeks before the proposed filming date. If your filming activities involve a road closure, then you need to start the process at least six weeks in advance.
You can make the initial contact by email at events@norwich.gov.uk.
Once you have initiated contact with the permitting authority, they will assess your production needs and liaise with you on moving forward. This applies to both large or small productions and all types of production companies, whether they're normal, student, or non-profit.
You will then need to move on to completing a Filming Request Form, on which you will give all of the details of the project. The details you will need to provide include:
Answers to questions about the production company
The locations desired
The times and dates filming should take place
Any parking requirements
If you plan to modify streets or buildings
The scale of the productions
If the film shoot will involve offensive material such as nudity or fight scenes
If there will be fake weapons used during the film shoot
Whether children or animals involved
Once the permitting authority has the full details of the project, they will assess if there is any need for additional licenses, planning permissions, or location agreements.
Permit Management in Norwich
Norwich City Council
All permissions, licenses, and location agreements for filming in Norwich are managed by the Events, Tourism, and Culture Department of Norwich City Council.
As with all UK councils, they have specific guidelines you will need to follow in relation to the comportment of cast and crew in public, the removal of rubbish during and after filming, and the parking of production vehicles.
It's advisable to make yourself fully aware of the council's expectations in regard to those concerns by reading the guidelines published on the Events Department webpage. If you don't adhere to the regulations outlined, you could find yourself issued with substantial fines or the film shoot being wrapped up a lot earlier than you'd want it to be.
It's the specific nature of British councils that you may need to deal with various other departments during your application process. This can happen if you want to modify the appearance of a street or building, want to close a street, or need to park production vehicles near your chosen filming location.
While the Events Department may inform you of which department to contact in relation to obtaining planning permission or temporary no-parking signage, it will be up to you to acquire what you need. This can turn out to be tedious and time-consuming so start your application well in advance. Keep in mind council office hours are mostly nine to five and from Monday to Friday.
What Insurance Do I Need in Norwich?
You will need general liability insurance coverage to film any production in Norwich. In the UK, this is generally known as Public Liability Insurance or Third Party Risk Insurance.
The City of Norwich Events Office minimum insurance coverage is:
Public Liability Insurance - £5,000,00 (five million pounds sterling) per occurrence.
While Norwich Council doesn't request you have property damage coverage, if you're going to be filming in any historic building or modifying a building's appearance, it's a good idea to have some. Historic and listed buildings, should they get damaged, can only be repaired in certain authorized ways using certain authorized materials. Yes, it can turn out to be a mega-costly operation and a bill you really won't want to foot even if you're a secret millionaire.
Should your film shoot involve dangerous stunts or explosive special effects, you may be required to have more insurance coverage than the stated minimum. The best thing to do is consult with the Events Department before purchasing coverage.
NB: You will be expected to submit a valid certificate of insurance during the filming registration process.
If you can’t meet any of these requirements, you’ll need to explain in writing why you can’t meet the requirement to the Office. They will determine if the shoot can go ahead without the necessary insurance.
Note that these requirements are minimum requirements. Larger and more complex shoots may require additional insurance which will be determined by the Office.
What Kind of Filming Locations Are Available in Norwich?
Historical buildings in all shapes and sizes are one thing that Norwich is definitely not short of. There are, in fact, over 1,500 individual listed buildings you can choose from and more besides that haven't made the register yet.
If you're making a period drama, no matter what era, you'll find Norwich will deliver what you're looking for. This city has incredible buildings that date back as far as Tudor and Elizabethan times, and that's about as medieval as you can get without it being a ruin.
Wander through the city center, and you'll come across places like the Dragon Hall and the Strangers Hall with their archaic wattle and daub facades. A few steps further and you'll be in Alderson Place, facing post-WW2 houses with linking balconies. Need a Victorian terrace? Then head for Bedding Lane, and you'll find one in its original form.
The cathedral, the castle keep, and the Guildhall with its unaltered Victorian courtrooms and creepy crypt are just three of the more notable filming locations in Norwich that can't go without a mention. One other thing that shouldn’t be missed, especially if your script is about witches, is the authentic ducking stool in the castle museum basement, but whether you’d be allowed to use it as a prop or not is a different question.
The streets of Norwich, with their undeniable air of antiquity, are fantastic filming locations in themselves. There are great parks, too, such as Waterloo Park, Eaton Park, and Mousehold Heath, the latter of which is the ideal spot for a gentleman's duel in the dawn mist. The River Wensum, which winds its way through the city, is the perfect tranquil waterway for barges as are the River Yare and Whitlingham Great Broad in the city's southern suburbs.
There's an abundance of business premises available to use as filming locations in Norwich, too, and they are as different as a boxing gym is to a cocktail bar. Office space, photography and music studios, fully equipped restaurants, and even a sports center with an indoor soccer pitch, ballet bars, and a physio treatment center. Whether you want vintage or modern, you'll find it in Norwich.
Special Requirements in Norwich
Filming At Norwich Cathedral
If you're hoping to shoot some scenes in Norwich Cathedral or in the cathedral Close, then you will first need to contact the cathedral's Estate Manager. This can be done by sending an email to the address on the official website.
Should you want to film with a drone outside the cathedral or in the Close, then you will need special permission. If you are granted permission, which in most cases is unlikely, you will need to provide a copy of a Civil Aviation pilot's license and have liability insurance coverage of £10,000,000.
Filming At Norwich Guildhall
If you decide the crypt of the Guildhall in Norwich is the perfect location for your film shoot, then you will need to liaise with the council, and they will put you in touch with the property manager.
Risk Assessment
One thing all production companies must do is conduct a risk assessment of their film shoot. Yes, this is British councils at their best hoping to avoid problems before they happen. To do a risk assessment, you will need to identify any hazard or danger connected to the film shoot and then prove you've done all you can to minimize it. The risk assessment has to be submitted in writing at the same time as your completed application.
Filming Breakdown
As well as a risk assessment, you will also need to submit a document detailing what will be filmed at each chosen location, where the locations are, and what day and time filming will take place at each. The breakdown should include details of any violent action, stunts, chase scenes, or special effects, as well as how many cast, crew, and vehicles will be involved.
Night Filming
Filming is only permitted from 8 am until 11 pm, and that includes setting up and breaking down. Should you want to film later for any reason, then you will need to request special permission and have a good reason for doing so.
Use of Generators and Cables
Generators should be positioned away from where they can cause any harm to the passing public. Cables that are on the ground must be covered with non-conductive mats or elevated to a height of two and a half meters if on a sidewalk or five and a half meters if crossing a street with vehicle traffic.
What Does it Cost to Film in Norwich?
No fees are attached to submitting a filming registration form to the Events, Tourism, and Culture Department of Norwich City Council. There will be fees to pay for locations or the use of city employees. These will be decided after your application has been assessed. Some charges you may incur are:
Additional Fees
If you're filming on public or private property, you may need to pay location fees to the property owner or relevant authorities. This can include parks, streets, historical sites, and private venues. Depending on the type of filming, you might need permits or licenses from local authorities. This can include filming permits from the Norwich City Council or Norfolk County Council.
Geographical Jurisdiction of Norwich?
Norwich is a cathedral city and the county seat of Norfolk in the east of England, around a hundred miles north of London. It covers approximately 21 square miles and is home to almost 150,000 people. Norwich is the only large city in the area, with the next closest being Ipswich which is 40 miles to the south, the coastal city of Great Yarmouth to the east, and Kings Lynn to the northeast. There are multiple small towns around the peripheral boundaries of Norwich, including Horsham St Faith and Spixworth to the north and Rackheath to the northeast. To the northwest is Taverham, and to the west is Costessey, Easton, and Bawburgh. To the southwest are Cringleford and Intwood, while to the east are Little Plumstead and Salhouse. Whitlingham Broad, an area of water that borders Norwich to the southeast, is part of the Norfolk Broads National Park. Should your chosen filming location fall outside of the jurisdiction of the council of the City of Norwich, then you will need to apply for permission to film from the relevant Norfolk district or local town council.
Outreach in Norwich
There may have been many film crews on the streets of Norwich, but that doesn't mean you'll get away without doing outreach. Outreach is, in fact, a standard requirement for any production company wanting to film in the city, and the Events, Tourism, and Culture Department expects it to be done in a certain way.
You can conduct outreach in Norwich by distributing a printed notification with the details of your filming activities to all households and businesses near your filming location, but, and it's a big but, only if you do so seven days in advance.
When you don't distribute notifications seven days in advance, then you will be obliged to go knocking on doors and tell the residents and business owners of your upcoming activities in person. Whichever system of outreach you choose, you must give a contact name and number to everyone in the vicinity of the filming locations so they can get in touch with the production company if they want to.
While the City of Norwich Council may be accustomed to dealing with complaints in all shapes and sizes, should anyone take issue and complain about your filming activities, it's up to the production company to resolve the problem. The best crew member to sort out problems is one you probably didn't even know you'd need, a community manager.
Community Management in Norwich
There's no denying that Norwich is a city that celebrates all forms of creative art. It's about as film-friendly a place as you'll find anywhere in the UK, but that doesn't mean you won't encounter any problems while filming there.
If you get any comeback from your notification distribution, you will need someone to deal with it. You might even want to delegate the job of distributing the notifications to them too. It's all a lot easier when you can get your community manager to do it for you. Let's face it, they'll probably do a more efficient job since they're being paid for it. Wages work wonders, and you'll need them on set during shooting too. Why?
There's no one worse than curious old biddies out doing their daily shopping for making a fuss about filming activities. Norwich has a high proportion of pensioners with too much time on their hands and nothing to fill it apart from being opinionated about things they know little about, and if they can get in the way, then they will.
No, you won't be able to open a temporary street cafe, sit them down, and feed them tea and cake while you get the action shots down. A community manager, though, will be able to give them a cake-less sweet talk and get them and their shopping trolleys to move on. Keep in mind there's nothing worse than people’s idle curiosity for interrupting a film shoot in Norwich; with the right community manager on the job, your filming should progress trouble-free.
Conclusion
Norwich is probably one of the best filming locations in the UK, especially for atmospheric period dramas. It's a city that's been tried and tested over the years and has proven itself to be as film-friendly as they come. Make sure it stays that way by sticking to the filming guidelines in Norwich issued by the Events, Tourism, and Culture Department of Norwich City Council and by getting all the required planning permissions, licenses, and location agreements. That way, Norwich will remain as film-friendly for the next production companies as it will be for you.