Top Scottish film locations tour - Private tours Edinburgh

Top Scottish film locations featuring

• Doune Castle ( Monty Python , Game of Thrones )
• Linlithgow Palace ( Outlander, Mary Queen of Scots )
• Rosslyn Chapel ( the Davinci code )
• Blackness Castle ( the Outlaw King , Mary Queen of Scots )
• the historic Hippodrome cinema in Bo’ness

1 The Hippodrome cinema in Bo’ness

The historic Hippodrome cinema was built in 1912 .

A personal guide will take your group on a tour round the inside of the Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness: Scotland’s oldest purpose-built cinema . You will learn about local entrepreneur Louis Dickson – the man with the vision to open Scotland’s first picture palace – his architect Matthew Steele, and the unique building they created together. Hear the fascinating history of this remarkable building, discover some of its quirky mysteries and get behind-the-scenes with an exclusive opportunity to visit the projection box. The tour includes a 15 minute film about the magnificent restoration work undertaken to restore the cinema to its pre-Art Deco glory and time for questions too.

Access: Please note the balcony and projection box are only accessible by stairs, the latter very steep and narrow. The tour can be modified for people with mobility difficulties on request.

2 Doune Castle

Doune Castle is unique in that it actually has four claims to movie fame .

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• Game of Thrones
• Outlander
• the Outlaw King

Doune Castle was widely used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail as the castle of Guy de Lombard .

Take the audio tour of the castle narrated by Monty Python’s Terry Jones or Outlander's Jamie ( Sam Heughan ) .

It also represented the castle Winterfell in Game of Thrones.

Originally dating to the 13th Century, Doune Castle near Stirling plays Castle Leoch, home to Colum MacKenzie and his clan in Outlander TV series .

It also features in the 20th century episode when Claire and Frank Randall visit the castle on a day trip.

Once a Royal residence, Doune Castle was rebuilt by Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany in the late 14th Century.

3

Linlithgow Palace

This royal palace and birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots was featured in the Outlaw King . It also became the backdrop for some of the most harrowing scenes of the TV show Outlander .

Depicted as Wentworth Prison, the prison corridors and entrance were used in episode 15 of the first series when Jamie Fraser was brutally incarcerated by his adversary, Black Jack Randall.

Built in the 1400s and 1500s, the now-ruined palace is set among the spectacular surrounds of Linlithgow Loch and Peel.

4 Blackness Castle

The castle starred in Hamlet, Outlander , the Outlaw King and Mary Queen of Scots.

The Outlaw King tells the story of how Robert the Bruce defied England’s King Edward I and became a hunted fugitive . At the Battle of Bannockburn he turned the tables to inflict a crushing defeat on the English army at Bannockburn and ultimately won Scottish independence.

Doomsday , an action thriller starring screen legends Bob Hoskins and Malcolm McDowell , was filmed at Blackness castle. The Castle near Linlithgow is used for key scenes in the futuristic movie. The film’s plot centres on a deadly plague called the Reaper Virus, which kills hundreds of thousands of British citizens in 2007. In desperation, the Government evacuates as many survivors as it can from the infected area, then builds a wall to quarantine the remaining population. But 30 years later, with the wall still up and the victims all but forgotten, the virus breaks out again. The authorities send in a crack team of operatives, led by Major Eden Sinclair, to retrieve a cure by any means necessary.

Both the interior and exterior of Blackness Castle will feature in the film, and fight scenes were played out at the ten-day shoot . The castle appears on screen as an unnamed Scottish castle. Other cast members include Sudanese actor Alexander Siddig, whose first main role was in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Dr. Julian Bashir and recently on screen as a reformed villain alongside Kiefer Sutherland in 24, while Sean Pertwee is also thought to be joining the cast.

5  The stunning chapel from the Davinci Code

Rosslyn Chapel, Roslin, near Edinburgh

With more than 100 carvings and scenes depicted in stone, the exquisite masonry of Rosslyn Chapel has to be seen to be believed. Look out for angels playing bagpipes, people dancing with death and the famous apprentice pillar – the story goes that the apprentice mason who carved this exquisite pillar was killed shortly afterwards by his jealous boss.

This tour runs on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday each week .

Tour price – £295

Exclusions

Lunch and refreshments

Entrance fees to Doune Castle, Linlithgow Palace , Rosslyn Chapel and Blackness Castle

• Scottish film locations tour
• Doune Castle
• Linlithgow Palace 
• Rosslyn Chapel
• Blackness Castle
• historic Hippodrome cinema

Phone 07305-294773 or contact us online .