Lovers of a spine-tingling thriller TV series need to add Coldwater to their watchlist for cosy sofa season, which has officially begun.
It sees The Walking Dead’s Andrew Lincoln return to a British TV role for the first time in nearly 15 years. His character John, who is struggling with his role as a stay-at-home dad, moves his family up to a remote Scottish village named Coldwater, and immediately befriends his neighbour Tommy, who is a bible study leader, ‘Alpha Male’ type and has a rather intense interest in true crime stories. It dives deep into the truly terrifying impact of male anger and violence, as well as toxic masculinity.
The series stars Trainspotting star Ewen Bremner as Tommy and Indira Varma as John's wife Fiona, who is immediately suspicious and disturbed by her neighbour's behaviour and hold on her husband.
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In an interview with Radio Times, Indira opened up about the ways in which toxic masculinity feeds into the series' core.
“John is completely beguiled by this charismatic man who he thinks represents true manhood, you know, which is what he's kind of clawing his way back to,” she said.
"Fiona, she gets a nose for it, and she sniffs [Tommy] out immediately, and I think when you've got a really good friendship or relationship, and one of you likes one person and the other one doesn't trust them, that creates a really difficult dynamic.
"I think this is a theme that David looks at, which is masculinity in today's society, and the idea of the wife, Fiona, in this case, being the successful breadwinner," she explained.
"It’s sort of slightly emasculating for John, them having two young kids and being a slightly reluctant stay-at-home dad in a very still predominantly female world."
So where was the intriguing new series filmed? According to director Lee Haven Jones, Coldwater is “a composite of many different locations surrounding Glasgow”.
“We have to understand why John and Fiona want to live in this rather lovely village", he added. "It was really important that this place felt aspirational, that it was beautiful. But at the same time, it felt very real.”
Coldwater filming locations
Here's a rundown of the places the Coldwater team filmed for the series.
Dunlop, which is located south of Glasgow, was used for shots of the village of Coldwater as what the show's creator, David Ireland, describes as “an idealised version of rural Scotland”.
"You’ve got the beautiful church, beautiful coffee shops. Everybody is friendly, and a little bit strange.’ The local church, Dunlop Kirk, was used for a funeral scene in episode 3.
The scenes at the wake afterwards were shot at Edmonstone Hall, which is a village hall located 30 miles north.
Rather significant scenes in episode one are filmed in the woods, more specifically, Glasgow's largest city park, which is 146 hectares.
Filming also reportedly took place in Highlands pub The Lade Inn in August 2024, including nighttime scenes shot in the car park. Ominous. The inn is located on the eastern edge of the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park.
A lot of the action takes place in both John and Fiona's and Tommy and Rebecca's houses – the first episode sees a very awkward meal where Tommy and Rebecca try to welcome their new neighbours to the area.
The exterior scenes of the two houses were filmed in a town south of Glasgow, while the interior scenes of the houses were filmed on sets.
John's therapy sessions take place at a house overlooking the gorgeous Loch Lomond, which was designed to really bring home the idealised picture of living in Scotland that John and Fiona had.
Where to watch Coldwater
The first episode aired on Sunday, 14 September at 9pm on ITV, with an episode airing each week at 9pm on ITV for six weeks.
All episodes are available to stream now on ITVX.
People are calling it the show of the year, and rightly so.
