The Hunt for Raoul Moat: Where is the ITV true crime drama filmed?

ITV’s latest true crime drama revisits the story of the manhunt for Raoul Moat in the North East of England in 2010.

The Hunt for Raoul Moat, which airs on Sunday, 16 April, shines a light on the myths and false narratives that built up around Moat and focuses its story on his three victims, Samantha Stobbart, Christopher Brown and PC David Rathband.

“The hunt for Raoul Moat gripped me from the start, as it was the first such case to be covered ‘live’ by the new 24-hour news channels in the UK,” said writer Kevin Sampson.

“Even then, it interested me that Moat was being portrayed by some as a ‘legend’ in spite of the brutality of his crimes.

“In 2023, violence against women remains rife and is all too often accompanied by a victim-blaming agenda. I hope this drama will go some way to condemning this narrative.”

The series, which has a cast including Lee Ingleby, Matt Stokoe and Sonya Cassidy, was produced by World Productions (Line of Duty, Showtrial) on location in the North East in 2022.

Here is everything we know about the series filming locations….

How we made it: Behind the scenes on The Hunt for Raoul Moat

The Hunt for Raoul Moat filming locations – did they film in Rothbury?

“Aside from establishing shots of Newcastle city centre, we filmed in Yorkshire. The housing estate that doubles for Birtley was just outside Bradford,” said executive producer Jake Lushington.

“Our director Gareth [Bryn – Karen Pirie, Line of Duty] had extensively recced every real location. But we did not want to film in or near the real locations. That included not filming in Rothbury [the Northumberland town where the manhunt ended following a six-hour stand-off with the police].

“We also use some real TV news footage from the time which melded together well with our own filming. It demonstrates the vast amount of media attention there was on this story.

“There is one line in the drama about Paul Gascoigne turning up in Rothbury. That was such a small and irrelevant incident. We mention Gazza in one line because we’re not erasing it from history. But it certainly isn’t the concern of our story at all.

“[Survival expert] Ray Mears was involved in helping the police during the manhunt. But, again, it’s certainly not the most interesting bit of the story from our point of view. So we’ve name-checked them as people who were involved but we didn’t see a huge relevance in either of them.”

The cast talk filming in the North East

Sally Messham, who plays victim Samantha Stobbart, said that shooting in the real locations was avoided out of respect.

“We filmed the Birtley estate scenes in Bradford out of respect to the victims,” she said.

“Bad things happen in all areas but for these dreadful things to happen with a sawn-off shotgun in a sleepy suburb of Gateshead on a Friday night just beggars belief.”

Vineeta Rishi, who plays DI Nisha Roberts, added: “I filmed one scene driving over the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle but otherwise we filmed around Bradford and other parts of Yorkshire. Nowhere near the real locations in the North East.”

Matt Stockoe, who was born in County Durham, said filming of Moat's riverside standoff scene was switched to Yorkshire rather than Rothbury.

“I filmed all of my scenes in Yorkshire, including the riverside stand-off with the police which happened for real in Rothbury. It’s not a surprise the story ends up there as most people will know that,” he said.

“The final riverside stand-off took place over six hours but we filmed there for a week. As an actor it just becomes an exercise in endurance.

“All of the police are going to go over there, I’m going to go over here and I’m going to lie on the ground and then it’s ‘Action’. It’s just on a loop.

“It’s quite useful because sometimes with these big dramatic sequences your adrenaline can betray you and you can get carried away and lose sight of what it is you’re trying to achieve.

"But when you break it down like that and take a six-hour sequence and spread it out over a week of filming you can section it off into little compartments and attack each part and judge it right. Mainly I just remember that week being very cold and dark.”

Watch The Hunt for Raoul Moat on Sunday 16 April on ITV and ITVX.