TV & Movies

Everywhere The Tourist Was Filmed

The BBC thriller beings in South Australia but ends in a very different location.

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Jamie Dornan stars as The Man in BBC Thriller 'The Tourist'
BBC/Stan/HBO Max & ZDF/Ian Routledge

Set to air on New Year’s Day, upcoming thriller The Tourist isn’t your typical BBC drama. The six-part series is “full of shocking, surprising, funny and brutal turns,” where “off-beat black comedy punctuates high-stakes action,” says the BBC. And there’s the epic cinematic shots and a budget to match. But where is The Tourist filmed?

The thriller opens with Jamie Dornan’s character driving a beat-up old car in the vast, scorching Australian backlands, when a tanker truck looms closer in the rear-view mirror. As the lorry begins to speed up to him, Dornan is pushed off the road and a chase ensues across the dusty plains, resulting in an explosive, cinematic crash. And that’s just the first five minutes.

Set against the glowing red outback, the story begins in South Australia, where the series was also filmed. With less strict lockdown restrictions, The Tourist is the latest and largest in a string of projects that Australian streaming platform Stan has filmed in the area. Steven Marshall, Premier of South Australia, said the 17-week long shoot for The Tourist was the biggest television production ever to be made in South Australia and is said to have created over 120 jobs for local cast and crew.

Some of the locations in South Australia were purpose built, such as the petrol station in Flinders Ranges.BBC/Stan/HBO Max & ZDF/Ian Routledge

“Securing The Tourist is a real coup for South Australia,” Premier Marshall said at the time, “not only will it create hundreds of local jobs, but it will also put South Australia’s remarkable landscape on show right around the world.”

Whilst the majority of the filming took place in regional areas of South Australia such as Port Augusta, Quorn, Peterborough, and Flinders Ranges National Park, filming also took place in the state’s capital of Adelaide.

The story of The Tourist comes from the acclaimed writers of The Missing, Baptiste and Liar Harry and Jack Williams, who own and run Emmy-winning production company Two Brothers Pictures. Set in a world populated by “quirky, enigmatic characters”, the mystery thriller follows The Man’s (Jamie Dornan) search for his true identity from the dusty outback of Australia, to the white-sand beaches of Bali via the city lights of Singapore.

The Tourist airs on BBC One at 9 p.m. on Jan. 1, 2022, and will be available to stream on iPlayer shortly after.

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