Maryland filming locations: where was the Isle of Man-set ITV drama with Suranne Jones and Eve Best filmed?

Maryland follows two estranged sisters in the days after the death of their mother. They’re caught by surprise to learn that their mother Mary wasn’t in Wales when she died, despite that being where they believed her to live; instead, she was on the Isle of Man, where it quickly became apparent she’d been leading a secret double life.

Maryland’s Isle of Man setting makes the series feel visually distinct, a big part of what gives the ITV drama its sense of identity – but, much like how Mary doesn’t actually live in Wales, Maryland wasn’t actually filmed on the Isle of Man. 

Here’s everything you need to know about where Maryland is set, and where it was actually filmed. 

Where is Maryland set?

Outside of a few brief establishing scenes in Manchester and London – the former where Becca and her father Richard live, the latter where older sister Rosaline has moved to – Maryland is set primarily in the Isle of Man. That’s where Mary has, unbeknownst to everyone, established a new life for herself, making new friends and throwing herself into a community that she didn’t tell the rest of her family about. In that sense, the Isle of Man is quite literally where Maryland is: it’s where Mary has carved out a land for herself.

The Isle of Man – sometimes just called ‘Mann’ by the people that live there – is a small island in the Irish Sea, situated between Britain and Ireland. It’s a Crown Dependency, meaning the island is “owned” by the British state, but it’s also a self-governing state in its own right (hence why, in terms of the plot of Maryland, the repatriation of Mary’s body is a complex issue for her children to deal with).

Where is Maryland filmed?

Despite being set on the Isle of Man, Maryland isn’t actually filmed there. Instead, it was filmed in and around the Irish coast, which doubles for the Isle of Man. Production was based primarily in Wicklow, which is a little outside Dublin - meaning filming for Maryland took place 224.8 km, or just shy of 140 miles, away from where the series is actually set.

Mary’s house – which is the setting for some of Maryland’s most impactful scenes – can be found in reality on the Howth Peninsula. Again, it’s very close to Dublin, and the coastal setting meant it could convincingly stand in for the Isle of Man. 

Speaking to the Radio Times, writer and co-creator Anne-Marie O’Connor explained her love for Ireland, but expressed some disappointment that the production wasn’t able to film in the Isle of Man itself. “I love Ireland although I was really disappointed not be able to use the Isle of Man,” said O’Connor. “I would have loved to film there. There’s a real specificity to the island. But I think we’ve done a really good job of selling the Isle of Man with Ireland and the locations that we found.”

What else films in Maryland?

Of course, Maryland is actually also the name of a real place: it’s a US state that borders Virginia and Washington DC. It’s a popular setting and filming location for a number of different television series – for example, the upcoming Apple TV+ series The Lady in the Lake is filming there currently – but it’s probably best known as the home of The Wire and We Own This City, both crime dramas from writer David Simon. 

Maryland is currently airing on ITV1 nightly at 9pm, with the full series available to watch as part of a boxset on ITVX. You can read more of our coverage of Maryland here, including our review of the series.