Inspector George Gently BBC series was filmed in Spennymoor

The site of Tudhoe Grange School, on Durham Road, was transformed into a 1960s police station for the seventh series of Inspector George Gently, the long-running BBC crime drama starring Martin Shaw and Lee Ingelby.

For several months, the disused school building served as the show’s production base while four 90-minute episodes were filmed across County Durham and the wider North East.

Tudhoe Grange School in Spennymoor (Image: GOOGLE MAPS)

Classrooms were converted into offices and interview rooms, while the frontage was dressed with period police cars and signage to match the drama’s 1960s setting.

At the time, Inspector George Gently was one of the BBC’s most successful crime dramas, regularly attracting audiences of around seven million viewers when episodes aired on BBC One later that year.

The decision to film in Spennymoor followed the closure of Tudhoe Grange School in 2012, when it merged with Spennymoor School to form Whitworth Park School and Sixth Form College.

Martin Shaw (Image: ARCHIVE)

While the future of the 100-year-old building was still undecided, its temporary use by the BBC ensured the site remained occupied and maintained.

Plus, with most of the series of Inspector George Gently already filmed in the region anyway, it gave producers a perfect opportunity to use the former school.

BBC representatives at the time said the school was ideally suited to the series, both visually and practically, offering a period-appropriate exterior alongside enough internal space to house sets and production offices.

Tudhoe Grange School in Spennymoor (Image: GOOGLE MAPS)

At the time, the show’s publicist, Deborah Goodman, said: “Period-wise, the school really works for us.

“It has a great frontage to put our sixties police cars out front, and the interior is great; we can make the police station sets work and have enough room for the production team to have its offices there.

“It has made a huge difference to the series to film it where it is supposed to be set, in and around Northumberland.”

Local leaders also welcomed the production, citing economic benefits for nearby businesses and the wider area, as well as the novelty of seeing a familiar local landmark appear on national television.

Now in 2026, the school’s brief transformation remains a notable moment in the town’s recent history.