Where is Hope Street filmed? Filming locations of BBC crime drama - is it Port Devine a real place

The first season of Northern Irish crime drama Hope Street followed the mysterious arrival of DC Leila Hussain in a sleepy coastal town. The 10 episode series featured a different self-contained crime story each week.

A second series of the drama was given the greenlight and originally aired on BBC One Northern Ireland last year. It saw the arrival of a new officer, DC Al Quinn at the town, following the departure of Hussain at the end of the first season.

As the second season is now available to watch across the UK, and with an extended third season, which will contain 15 episodes, confirmed, we take a look at the picturesque filming locations featured in Hope Street.

Where is Hope Street set?

Hope Street is set in the Northern Irish coastal town of Port Devine. The series revolved around the local police force at Port Devine and the local residents.

However, Port Devine is a fictional town created for the show - but the series is filmed on location in Northern Ireland.

Where is Hope Street filmed?

The series is filmed in Donaghadee, County Down - the quiet Northern Irish town on the coast of the island has a population of fewer than 10,000, and stands in for Port Devine in the series.

Fans of the show will recognise the town’s distinctive harbour, lighthouse, and gin distillery, all of which feature in the series.

The 52 ft tall lighthouse is one of the oldest off the coast of the island of Ireland, and protects the harbour which was built in its current form in the 1820s and is a popular destination for tourists.

Ahead of the season two release last year, series star Niamh McGrady, who plays Nicole Devine on the show, shared some behind the scenes photos from the series shoot to her Instagram page. The lighthouse and harbour can be spotted in her post.

Filming for season three began at Donaghadee in April this year, and stars Ciaran McMenamin, Finnian Garbutt, Karan Hassan, and Niall Wright were spotted in the town.

Being that it is a small town,Donaghadee does not often play host to film crews, but Hope Street is not the first project to be shot there. The 1998 Black romantic comedy, Divorcing Jack, set during the peace process in Northern Ireland and its effect on one Belfast man, was filmed there.

Romantic drama film, The Secret Life of Words, starring Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins, about a hearing impaired factory worker who forfeits her first holiday in years to instead travel to an oil rig to care for a man who has suffered severe burns, was also shot in Donaghadee, as well as at locations in Belfast and across Spain. 

Surprisingly, Donaghadee also provided the backdrop to the 2014 low budget sci-fi adventure Robot Overlords, which starred Oscar winner Ben Kingsley, and Gillian Anderson.

Episodes from the second season of Hope Street are now airing on BBC One on Fridays at 1.45pm, and all episodes from season one and two are available now on BBC iPlayer.