Where ‘The Hairdresser Mysteries Was’ Really Filmed, Inside the West Midlands Towns Standing in for Blossom Vale
‘The Hairdresser Mysteries’ presents itself as a story set in a sleepy northern market town, but the real geography behind the BBC’s new cosy crime drama tells a different story entirely. The series follows Sally Phillips as Lily Petal, an upmarket city hairdresser who trades her competitive career for a small salon in a quiet village, only to find herself tangled up in the secrets her clients confide in her chair.
That fictional setting, known on screen as Blossom Vale, was never filmed anywhere near the north of England. Despite that setting, the show was never actually filmed in the north of England at all, and the real locations behind Blossom Vale tell their own interesting story. Instead, production settled into a cluster of towns across Warwickshire and Worcestershire, transforming ordinary streets and historic buildings into the fictional village at the center of the mystery.
Alcester Stands In for Blossom Vale
The heart of the production is Alcester, a market town that supplied much of the visual identity viewers now associate with Blossom Vale. Within seconds of The Hairdresser Mysteries credits, viewers will see Lily driving down Alcester High Street. The town’s period charm made it a natural fit for a series steeped in 1970s nostalgia.
Much of filming took place in Church House on Butter Street, which serves as Lily’s salon, and the house was transformed into a 70s-style hairdressing salon. In reality, Church House is a historic 15th-century building in Alcester, located at 17 Butter Street, where it serves as the administrative hub and meeting hall for St Nicholas Church and the Alcester Minster. The building’s genuine period features gave the production a head start in recreating a decade defined by warm color palettes and old-fashioned salon fittings.
Local reporting confirmed just how long the crew stayed in town. As reported in the Herald, Alcester and the surrounding area became the backdrop for the show, and filming on location last autumn went on for nine weeks. Locals looked on as camera crews buzzed around the streets filming The Hairdresser Mysteries, one of two dramas commissioned to be filmed and produced in the West Midlands. That kind of sustained presence left a visible mark on the town, with residents watching their familiar streets rebuilt into 1970s Blossom Vale week after week.
A Private House in Oversley Green Becomes Part of the Set
Not every location belonged to a business or historic institution. A house in Oversley Green was another prominent filming location, and owner Mark Cargill shared with the Herald what it was like to have his home transformed into a set. The process began quietly, with a note through the door rather than any grand announcement.
Cargill explained that a location manager scouts out the area for suitable sites and properties, and the family received a note about six weeks before filming asking if they would be interested. Cargill, who owns the property with his wife Kathryn, described the experience as somewhat mysterious from the homeowner’s side. He noted that they did not know what happened in certain parts of the house during filming and could not get into the rooms while the crew was working, calling it fascinating to see how the production made it all come together.
That kind of local involvement reflects how deeply the production embedded itself in daily life across the region rather than simply passing through for a few establishing shots.
Filming Extended Across Worcestershire and Stratford-upon-Avon
Beyond Alcester, the production’s footprint spread across several nearby towns to round out the world of ‘The Hairdresser Mysteries’. Filming took place in the West Midlands in September and October 2025, with filming locations including Alcester, Stratford-upon-Avon, Wellesbourne, and Worcestershire.
One standout location came from the world of hospitality rather than everyday village life. The Chateau Impney Hotel and Exhibition Centre in Worcestershire features in the new cosy crime drama, and Shakespeare and Hathaway has also used the area as a filming location. The Chateau Impney is a Grade II listed 19th-century house built in the style of an elaborate French chateau, located in Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire, and it has operated as a hotel since 1925.
Worcester itself contributed additional settings that appear throughout the series. Scenes were filmed at a local bingo hall and the Perdiswell Leisure Centre in Worcester, while in Redditch, cast and crew filmed outside the Batchley Road Fish Bar. In episode three, Lily Petal arrives at Ragley Hall, a notable 17th-century stately home in Warwickshire featuring a grand Palladian facade. Beyond Alcester itself, filming extended into nearby Stratford-upon-Avon, Wellesbourne, and other parts of Worcestershire, rounding out the broader West Midlands footprint of the production.
The West Midlands Push Behind the Production
The decision to film in this particular corner of England was not incidental. Helen Munson, Commissioning Editor for BBC Daytime, said the BBC made a commitment to reinvest in new programming from the West Midlands, adding that the region has so much home-grown talent in the drama sector both on and off screen, and that commissioning The Hairdresser Mysteries will offer more jobs to the region and showcase what the area has to offer.
That commitment traces back to funding freed up after a long-running soap opera left the air. Funding for the series came from the former BBC soap opera ‘Doctors’, which was cancelled in 2023, and at the time of its cancellation the BBC pledged to reinvest that funding into new drama in the Midlands. The Hairdresser Mysteries was announced as part of the BBC’s signing of a second memorandum of understanding with the West Midlands Combined Authority earlier that year.
Do you think it was a good idea to film the series in this part of England?
The regional strategy has continued to shape production choices beyond this single show. That regional investment has already extended beyond this single series, with other productions like ‘Shakespeare & Hathaway’ also making use of nearby locations such as the Chateau Impney Hotel and Exhibition Centre in Worcestershire. For a region not traditionally associated with major television production, the pattern suggests British broadcasters are increasingly willing to build cosy crime hits away from London and the usual filming hubs.
For anyone planning a visit inspired by the show, Alcester rather than any hidden northern village is where the real Blossom Vale begins. Which of these West Midlands locations would you most want to visit after watching Lily Petal solve her first mystery on Butter Street?
