Inside The Real Village We See In Shetland Series 10

Calder and Tosh are back in the blustery northern reaches of Scotland for the tenth instalment of Shetland, kicking off on BBC One on Wednesday 5 November. Over the past 12 years, the show has cast a rosy glow over the UK’s northernmost region, the Shetland Islands, an archipelago lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. Made up of 100 islands, only 16 of which are inhabited, these rugged isles are home to around 23,000 people (about the size of a small town elsewhere in the UK, like Ely or Truro) and are only accessible by plane and boat – making for some really tight-knit and isolated communities.

This comes to the fore in series 10, which untangles the mysterious murder of a retired social worker in a small, isolated town called Lunniswick: think locals living on top of each other and knowing everything about each other without ever intending to. But is Lunniswick a real town, and where was Shetland series 10 filmed? Here’s what you need to know.

DI Ruth Calder (ASHLEY JENSEN) & DI ‘Tosh’ McIntosh (ALISON O’DONNELL) in Shetland series 10. (BBC/Silverprint Films/Jamie Simpson)

Where Was Shetland Series 10 Filmed?

The new series of Shetland transports us to the close-knit town of Lunniswick – a fictional place, though it draws heavily on Shetland’s very real communities and settlements. ‘The fictional village of Lunniswick is typical of Shetland,’ says Alison O’Donnell who stars in the series as DI Tosh. ‘Scattered houses lining a beach, the neighbours well acquainted with one another and the land they live on.’

Lunniswick isn’t a real Shetland village, but Shetland series 10 was filmed in a real (and similarly named) village: Levenwick, a village hidden around 17 miles south of the islands’ capital, Lerwick. Found on the east side of the South Mainland, only a few hundred people live in the village, making it a true-to-life reflection of the claustrophobic town we see in Shetland.

The real town ‘is on the road between Lerwick and Sumburgh airport’, O’Donnell explains, ‘so I’ve driven past it 100 times but had only actually ever been down there once. I remember on a day off that I just took a fancy and went down to the beach there. It was something different for us, to be in one location for so much of the shoot. Things were very predictable, we knew we were heading to the same place every day for much of it and got into a nice rhythm with that. It’s also a beautiful place so it was very nice to be there.’

Behind the scenes on Shetland series 10. (BBC/Silverprint Films/Jamie Simpson)

Levenwick ‘is rich in history, relationships and secrets, which I really loved as a central focus of the mystery’, O’Donnell adds, referring to Calder and Tosh’s murder investigation in Lunniswick, which sees plenty of locals concealing their relationships with the deceased. ‘There was so much to play with, so much to unpack. As the investigation progresses, we get deeper and deeper into the lives of those who live there and the history of the place. It was very satisfying.’

O’Donnell’s co-lead Ashley Jensen adds Shetland series 10 is ‘a little more insular rather than the expansive locations of last year’ thanks to this setting in Lunniswick. ‘We’ve really come into the nucleus of the small hamlet of Lunniswick and used a real-life town as our location,’ she says. ‘It’s very much a small community where everybody knows each other’s business. The series opens with the murder of a woman from this community and, of course, the houses back on to each other, everybody’s peeping from their curtains and everyone’s kind of involved in each other’s lives – whether they want to be or not.

‘I always like filming on location because it feels more alive,’ Jensen adds. ‘You’re actually in a house, you’re beside the water and you can smell the sea air outside and I find it helpful to feel the damp, feel the cold even though it can be difficult. The fact your hair is going all over the place can add to the wildness of the show and the elements are bigger than you and as much a part of the show as the actors and the storyline.

‘For me, this series is the best storyline out of the three I’ve been involved in,’ Jensen declares. ‘I love the detail of this one and the fact that all the locals are suspects in the murder case.’

DC Sandy Wilson (STEVEN ROBERTSON) in Shetland series 10. (BBC/Silverprint Films/Jamie Simpson)

Co-star Steven Robertson (who plays Sandy) has starred in every series of Shetland thus far, and actually hails from the archipelago. He says that, upon reading the series 10 scripts, it was ‘so obvious from the get go that the location really had to be an intimate, beautiful village with an incredible environment. It actually danced through my head as I first read the scripts: “I wonder if they’re considering Levenwick to be our Lunniswick?”

‘Whenever I drive past Levenwick on my way back from Sumburgh I always glance down at it because it is a sort of magical, little jewel of a village,’ he adds. ‘It’s got a very different feel to it from much of the rest of the Shetland Isles. It feels like you’re really far away, even from the rest of the mainland of Shetland. That sort of mystery and history, absolutely comes across on screen. It’s the perfect location for this storyline.’

Matt Blake (SAMUEL ANDERSON) in Shetland series 10. (BBC/Silverprint Films/Jamie Simpson)

Some scenes – especially those at the police station – are filmed on sets in Glasgow. This means newcomer Matt Blake (who plays Shetland’s new Procurator Fiscal) has still never visited the archipelago despite being cast in the hit series. ‘That’s the magic of television!’ he says. ‘All of my scenes are in the studio in Glasgow, so I didn’t actually go on location to the Shetland Isles. I have said that next series I want to get to the Shetland Isles even if it’s just to hand someone their jacket in a scene. I absolutely now have it on my list of places to visit.’

Visiting Levenwick

Levenwick may be a small village, but its beachy scenery packs a punch. Located just off the A970, Levenwick is a popular pitstop for travellers exploring the South Mainland, located as it is between Lerwick and Sumburgh Head. Home to a sheltered sandy bay, visitors often come for a paddle, rockpooling or a walk, especially to the nearby Levenwick Broch, an Iron Age round tower ruin perched on the cliffs overlooking the sea. And if you’d like to stay a while, there’s the locally-run Levenwick Caravan and Campsite open from May to September with sea views.

MORE: Idyllic Campsites (& Glampsites) Near London For A Weekend Escape

Staycation Dupes

For that Shetland feeling without the schlep, try these C&TH approved hotels.

The Three Chimneys, Isle of Skye

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The Pierhouse Hotel, Port Appin

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