Outlander, Harry Potter and Avengers iconic Scottish film locations captured in new guide

And now with the help of Scots acting legend James Cosmo, VisitScotland launches its new-look guide to big screen locations.

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Cosmo, star of iconic Scottish films, Highlander, Braveheart and Trainspotting, and TV fantasy series, Game of Thrones, pens the foreword to the national tourism organisation’s revamped guidebook, Set in Scotland.

He describes a “magical quality” of films shot in Scotland as VisitScotland launches its new-look guide to big screen locations.

Pennan village, Aberdeenshire, where Local Hero was set

The 52-page guide features more than 150 films which have been shot entirely or partially in Scotland – 46 more than the previous version first published in 2015 – and details more than 100 film locations.

Set in Scotland was launched on Friday at Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway, which runs steam and heritage diesel train journeys along its tracks, and has appeared in several film and TV productions including Outlander, Cloud Atlas and The Railway Man. The heritage railway is operated by volunteers of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society, along with the Museum of Scottish Railways, Scotland’s largest railway museum which is also on the site.

Screen tourism – or set-jetting – is a global trend in which film or TV fans are inspired to visit a location after seeing it on screen. Fans like to visit the exact filming location or providing the general motivation to book a holiday to the destination.

Actor Rik Rankin joins filming of Outlander at John Muir Country Park in East Lothian. Photo Gordon Terris.

Many visitors citing film titles released long before their trip as motivation, and so can provide ongoing financial support to the regions and businesses linked to popular locations.

VisitScotland hopes the new-look guide will offer further inspiration for visitors to explore across the regions, while providing a resource for the industry to create new experiences as part of Scotland's national strategy to rebuild the visitor economy and ensure sustainable tourism thrives.

Glenfinnan Viaduct features in the Harry Potter films

Previous research has shown that 17 per cent of visitors from Scotland’s top international markets - USA, France and Germany - visit a film or TV location while on holiday in Scotland, while a recent Screen Scotland report valued screen tourism at £55 million to the national economy, based on those visiting film and TV locations, creating 1220 full-time jobs.

Scotland has appeared in five of the top 30 highest grossing films of all time, which have brought in a total of $10.6 billion* at the box office worldwide. Among them are Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, which showed off Edinburgh’s gothic architecture and the quaint fishing village of St Abbs, respectively. 

Actor Cosmo, whose film career has spanned six decades, writes in the foreword: “Throughout my career I have been privileged enough to be involved in many [films] that have made a real connection with audiences worldwide. People still come up to me while in Scotland and tell me they are here because they watched Scottish films such as Braveheart or Highlander. And what is wonderful, is that the films are only the starting point. They then form a strong connection with the real country – it may be because of their ancestors or the feeling they get while they’re here. That stays with them.”

Jenni Steele, Film and Creative Industries Manager at VisitScotland, said hopes the new book will encourage more people to visit the memorable film locations.

She said: “Some of the world’s biggest film franchises have chosen to come to our shores in recent years, from Batman to Avengers. This not only boosts the local economy in the short-term, which is particularly important for the recovery of tourism, but can provide an ongoing presence in popular culture – and streaming services – that can continue to reach new audiences and lead to visits long after a film’s release.

“As we celebrate Scotland’s Year of Stories, our new-look Set in Scotland will hopefully inspire visitors to explore far beyond the film sets, and experience the people, the places, the history and culture, that have inspired many big screen storytellers.”

Amanda Kilburn, Business Development Director at the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway, said being a location for many TV and film productions was a privilege for them.

She said: “We are fortunate to have such a photogenic site located within easy reach of Edinburgh and Glasgow with the added attraction of being able to give sole use of our line and site to production companies. Our fantastic collection of railway items including steam locomotives, historic carriages and much of the infrastructure required by these companies, has been recognised through the Scottish Government Recognition Scheme as being of national significance. It's a real thrill for our volunteers and staff to see the place they have been passionately building from a brownfield site on the edge of the Firth of Forth since 1979 on the big screen.”

Their Station Master has often been asked to show many visitors the exact spot that Claire and Frank bid farewell to each other in Outlander or talked about the footbridge and how it was used in The Railway Man.

Ms Kilburn added: “Our Railway and Museum are run almost entirely by volunteers of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS) which is a Scottish charity, and all income helps fund the restoration and preservation of Scotland’s railway heritage, so we are extra grateful to be able to receive the financial support the TV and film productions bring.”

Set in Scotland covers the last 90 years, from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 version of The 39 Steps, in which UNESCO World Heritage Site, The Forth Bridge, appears, to The Road Dance, which was filmed on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides during the pandemic and released in May this year. Alien, Avengers, Batman, Fast & Furious, and James Bond, are among the global film franchises to have come to Scotland.

As part of the redesign, the guide labels each film by genre, features QR codes with links to film themed content on visitscotland.com, and contains a new section, Monarchs of the Glens, which focuses on those films linked to Scotland’s kings and queens, from Shakespeare’s Macbeth to the Oscar-winning The Queen.

Locations which have enjoyed a film spin off

Ian Walker runs Edinburgh-based private guided sightseeing and ancestral tours. He says interest, particularly from US visitors, has grown in the past ten years on the back of Outlander.

“Outlander has by far attracted the bulk bookings in recent years with clients fascinated to discover more about Scotland’s rich history as well as visiting film locations. This fascination has also led to a growing interest into their own Scottish ancestry as well as immersing themselves in the history, heritage and culture of their ancestors," Mr Walker said.

“The Outlaw King, Mary, Queen of Scots as well as Braveheart and Rob Roy have all influenced clients to visit Scotland with many looking to learn more about the history behind the films. The Crown and Downton Abbey have also influenced visits to many of Scotland’s iconic castles and historic houses.”

The nature reserve, St Abb’s Head in the Scottish Borders, cared for by the National Trust for Scotland and accessed by the village of St Abbs, saw a 25 per cent increase in visitors, to 63,721, following the release of Avengers: Endgame in 2019.

In the two years prior to its release, the attraction had on average 49,000 visitors. Last year’s visitor numbers remained above pre-Avengers levels at 58,862, despite the continuing impact of the Covid pandemic.

After the release of epic Braveheart in 1995 about Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace, the National Wallace Monument in Stirling reported visitor numbers leapt from 80,000 a year to nearly 200,000 in 1996. For the 10-year period from 1996 to 2005 the average annual number of visitors to the National Wallace Monument was 135,000, and it has remained above 100,000 over subsequent years.

While Dan Brown’s 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code, had a huge effect on Rosslyn Chapel. Visitor numbers increased by 72 per cent, from 68,603 in 2004 to 118,151 in 2005. In 2006, following the release of the film directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, visitor numbers reached 175,053, providing a major cash injection for conservation work at the site.