The Marlow Murder Club: Real life filming locations in Marlow

The highly-anticipated adaptation of local author Robert Thorogood’s murder-mystery novel series The Marlow Murder Club is now out in the world – exposing beautiful parts of the town to watchers around the UK to whom it was previously unfamiliar. 

The series - which is available to stream now on the UKTV app - is based on Thorogood's 2021 novel of the same name and follows retired archaeologist Judith Potts (Bond) as she recruits two new friends, Becks (Horgan) and Suzie (Martin), to solve the mysterious death of her neighbour across the Thames.

For those in the know, an added thrill of watching Judith, Suzie and Becks sleuth their way around the town was spotting all the familiar local landmarks captured by film crews last summer.

Just in case you missed a few, we’ve compiled a non-exhaustive list of all the spots around the town where you can tread in the footsteps of Samantha Bond, Jo Martin and Cara Horgan – real-life murder not included.

Higginson Park

In an early and crucial plot element, our protagonist Judith stumbles upon her first suspect in the murder case via a hazy flashback to last year's Marlow Regatta in Higginson Park - complete with rowers, blue skies and a short but sweet surprise cameo.

Although the park itself is ancillary to the characters involved in the flashback - and is discoloured to distinguish it from the present day - it's easy to see that the popular green area holds up well on the small screen.

High Street

Unsurprisingly, much of the action of The Marlow Murder Club takes place up and down the High Street, in sequences of characters striding up and down the pavement and panning shots of the colourful bunting hung around the town last summer.

Warmly lit by the TV crews, it looks even more picturesque than usual in the new series - no easy feat for such a pretty corner of the world.

The Vicarage

Real-life Marlow vicar Dave Bull and his wife Helen gave their full endorsement to the series earlier this week and were on board enough to let UKTV take some shots of their house to include in episode one.

One of the Murder Club's central trio, Becks, is the wife of a vicar in Thorogood's books, and Helen told the Free Press on Tuesday that her fictional counterpart - while apparently not inspired by her - was a "brilliant" and suitably "strong and independent lady".

Town Council Building

READ MORE: ‘A love letter to the town’: Locals react to ‘fantastic’ Marlow Murder Club TV series

TV crews managed to gain filming access to the Marlow Town Council office in Court Garden for a whole week last year, and both the inside and outside of the building appear as a "dodgy solicitors' office" in episode two.

All Saints Church

Similarly, crews were allowed to film both inside and outside All Saints Church on The Causeway between June and July 2023, with a number of scenes taking place in the Thames-side graveyard, by the gate and inside the Grade II listed building.

Marlow Bridge

Although Thorogood kept to his promise of not irking residents by closing the town's historic bridge for filming purposes, crews managed to get some gorgeous shots of the structure regardless - including one taken at sunset and another of Judith cycling along the footpath on her way to hunt for clues.

Longridge Activity Centre

Longridge Activity Centre appears as The Marlow Rowing Club in the new TV series, with Judith, Becks and Susie diverging from the police and following their own course of inquiry after bundling into Susie's van and heading to the real-life centre's car park.

Nova Art Gallery

Despite maintaining its original signs, Nova - a relatively new addition to Marlow High Street - became first murder victim Stephen Dunwoody's self-named gallery in the TV adaptation.

Filming took place both outside and inside the exhibition room.

Were you excited to see familiar places around Marlow on TV?