Bucks &amp; Oxon

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDWITCHES.jpg" alt="Wicked movie" class="wp-image-179027" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDWITCHES.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDWITCHES-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDWITCHES-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDWITCHES-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"> Credit: @universalpicturesuk</figcaption></figure>



If you haven&#8217;t seen <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6COmYeLsz4c" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wicked</a> yet, then click your ruby slippers together and transport yourself to the cinema – because this film adaptation of the Broadway musical is pure magic. Especially as much of the Hollywood-wattage action was filmed right here in Bucks – and a short hop over the border into Herts too. If you&#8217;ve been hiding under a hay bale in Kansas for the last few months, here&#8217;s the 30-second down-low on Wicked: it&#8217;s a prequel to The Wizard of Oz starring pop princess Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good Witch, and Cynthia Erivo as her nemesis Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDBRIDGE.jpg" alt="Wicked movie" class="wp-image-179023" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDBRIDGE.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDBRIDGE-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDBRIDGE-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDBRIDGE-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: @universalpicturesuk</figcaption></figure>



Add Bridgerton sauceboat Jonathan Bailey as Elphaba&#8217;s love interest, Michelle Yeoh as Madam Morrible, and Jeff Goldblum as The Wizard, and you have a gravity-defying global smash hit. (Wicked took $164m on its opening weekend, and there&#8217;s Part 2 to come next year). Grabbed you now? Thought so. Read on for how the Hollywood moguls created Munchkinland in a small village in North Bucks, complete with yellow brick road. There&#8217;s no place like home!



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ivinghoe-bucks">IVINGHOE, BUCKS</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="665" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDGLINDA.png" alt="Wicked movie" class="wp-image-179035" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDGLINDA.png 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDGLINDA-800x532.png 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDGLINDA-400x266.png 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



Ivinghoe, a small village on the most easterly reaches of Bucks, is mostly known for its landmark Beacon, a lofty 233m above sea level. On the list of places you&#8217;d least expect to see pop princess Ariana Grande hanging out, it&#8217;s pretty high up, then. But the bigwigs at Universal decided it was exactly the spot to recreate Munchkinland, rolling in last year to build miniature thatched houses and a yellow brick road winding through an unassuming patch of Bucks farmland. Nothing&#8217;s ever straightforward though. In the film, Munchkinland is surrounded by tulip fields, which were actually shot on the other side of the country (see below), requiring special effects wizardry to blend the two locations together. Nonplussed locals of Ivinghoe (population circa 1,000) said the landing of the film crews&#8217; giant rigs and cranes felt like an alien invasion – and with a fair wind they could hear the cast singing.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sky-studios-elstree-borehamwood">SKY STUDIOS ELSTREE, BOREHAMWOOD</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKED4-1.jpg" alt="Wicked movie" class="wp-image-179022" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKED4-1.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKED4-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKED4-1-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKED4-1-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"> @universalpicturesuk</figcaption></figure>



Bucks said goodbye, yellow brick road at the end of 2023 because the Land of Oz was packed up in Ivinghoe and shipped off to Sky Studios Elstree in Borehamwood, Herts. Recent hits filmed here include Paddington in Peru and the upcoming Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy – and the Wicked team took full advantage of the state-of-the-art studio’s 12 sound-stages to recreate the Emerald City. In fact, production on&nbsp;Wicked&nbsp;was so humongous they also had to use stages at the nearby Elstree Studios and at the Warner Bros Studios in Leavesden – home of&nbsp;Harry Potter&nbsp;(and many a coach load of school trips) and, more recently,&nbsp;Wonka&nbsp;starring Timothée Chalamet.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-seven-sisters-country-park-east-sussex">SEVEN SISTERS COUNTRY PARK, EAST SUSSEX</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="665" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDGLINDA2.png" alt="Wicked movie" class="wp-image-179034" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDGLINDA2.png 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDGLINDA2-800x532.png 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDGLINDA2-400x266.png 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



The original 1900 children&#8217;s novel by American author L. Frank Baum depicted the Land of Oz connected by Venice-like waterways. For the new movie reboot, director Jon M. Chu chose the Seven Sisters Country Park in the South Downs National Park to film Glinda (Ariana Grande) travelling to Shiz University on a pink sailing boat, with the South Downs&#8217; chalk cliffs prettily in shot. The South Coast scenes were filmed in Jan and June last year, blending the establishing shots from Sussex with a studio backlot.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-terrington-marsh-norfolk">TERRINGTON MARSH, NORFOLK</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDWIZ-1.jpg" alt="Wicked movie" class="wp-image-179029" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDWIZ-1.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDWIZ-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDWIZ-1-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/WICKEDWIZ-1-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: @universalpicturesuk</figcaption></figure>



The magical Munchkinland is surrounded by psychedelic fields of multicoloured tulips – no mean feat for a location scout. Norfolk did the honours here – Wicked&#8216;s location manager Adam Richard worked with flower farmer Mark Eves to grow millions of different coloured tulips on a plot near King&#8217;s Lynn – a staggering nine million tulips, in fact. The flower fields, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/norfolk_tulips/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Norfolk Tulips</a>, are closed until April 2025, but are hugely popular with visitors as you&#8217;d expect, so book tickets for the Spring to get an eyeful then.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/StPancrasTree.jpeg" alt="Wicked movie Christmas tree" class="wp-image-179021" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/StPancrasTree.jpeg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/StPancrasTree-800x534.jpeg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/StPancrasTree-400x267.jpeg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Wicked Christmas tree at St Pancras Station</figcaption></figure>



<a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://www.timeout.com/news/where-was-wicked-filmed-the-locations-behind-the-movie-musical-smash-112624" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a><a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet/?text=Where%20was%20%E2%80%98Wicked%E2%80%99%20filmed%3F%20The%20locations%20behind%20the%20movie%20musical%20smash&amp;url=https://www.timeout.com/news/where-was-wicked-filmed-the-locations-behind-the-movie-musical-smash-112624" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a><a href="https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/create/button/?url=https://www.timeout.com/news/where-was-wicked-filmed-the-locations-behind-the-movie-musical-smash-112624" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a><a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a><a href="https://web.whatsapp.com/send?text=$text$%20$url$" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a>

Hello yellow brick road! Where Wicked was filmed in Bucks and beyond

You may also like