Photography and filming within the county

Getting permission to film or take photographs

If you wish to film on land owned by us, including public highways, please contact Filming Friendly Durham.  Before filming takes place, we require you to provide evidence of Public Liability Insurance and risk assessments, along with the schedule and other information. Full details can be found on the Filming Friendly Durham website.

If your production has the potential to create disruption to members of the public or local businesses, we recommend that you give sufficient advance notice so we can advise and assist you. 

If you wish to film for a press story

Please contact us at the press office.

If you wish to film council staff

Please contact us at the press office.

We're a film friendly county

We have signed the Filming Friendly Charter, a North East Screen initiative to establish the North East as the UK's Filming Friendly region. We welcome production companies to our area and will work with them to our mutual benefit.

The purpose of Filming Friendly is to provide a speedy and co-ordinated approach to filming requests on council-owned land. However,  we also work with partners including Durham Police and independent landowners such as Durham University and Durham Cathedral. 

Filming Friendly Durham has an in-depth knowledge of locations across the county, which means we can also offer advice on potential film and photography locations to match the requirements of any project.

Recent major productions

In addition to a large number of popular television documentary and entertainment programmes, recent major productions filmed in County Durham include Avengers: Endgame, the Oscar winning film 1917, Downton Abbey, and the long running BBC1 drama series Inspector George Gently starring Martin Shaw, and ITV's Vera starring Brenda Blethyn. Visit our Durham on Screen page to find out more.  

If you wish to film for a press story or want to film council staff, please contact us at the press office.

Filming and photography by the council

We may take photographs and/or films around events and information that involve us.

• Privacy notice - photography and filming (PDF, 157.6kb)

Filming children or vulnerable adults

There are specific rules around filming or taking photographs of children and young people or others considered vulnerable. If they are in a council establishment, such as a school, youth club or care setting, you need to seek the permission of the head teacher, youth leader or senior member of staff. If they aren't in a council establishment, parental or guardian permission will be required. If in doubt, please contact us at the press office.