Ever wished you could escape into the world of your favourite TV show? It’s not as impossible as you might think. While many movies and TV series are filmed on purpose-built sets, every now and then it's easier to shoot on-location in a real home.
From Harvey Specter's fabulous NYC apartment in Suits to a parade of mansions for the Roy clan in Succession, these real-life TV homes are full of surprises. Let's step behind the scenes...
Succession has become one of the most acclaimed shows on TV, winning countless awards. Following the dysfunctional Roy family, owners of international media conglomerate Waystar RoyCo, the heirs, spouses and hangers-on battle it out to take the top spot from ailing patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox).
Said to be loosely based on the lives of billionaire Rupert Murdoch's family, whose media empire includes The Times, Vice, Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, the series takes place in some of the most enviable properties imaginable.
Fans might recognise this incredible property from the first few scenes of episode one, season four. During the opening episode, a drone shot captures the exterior of this gorgeous glass home, before Shiv (Sarah Snook), Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) convene inside to plan their next move against their father.
During the episode, it isn’t obvious who the home belongs to, but we can guess that Roman might be staying there, since he's already inside when his siblings turn up. More or less ignoring the spectacular surroundings of this statement California mega-mansion, the three attempt to work out what they will do next, after discovering that their father plans to sell Waystar RoyCo to wealthy but difficult tech mogul, Lukas Mattson (Alexander Skarsgård).
The perfect place to sit back and plot how to take down your family, the pricey pad was built by real estate developer, Ardie Tavangarian, in 2020. The property was briefly available to rent at an eye-watering £284,250 ($350k) per month, before it was sold in 2021 for £67.4 million ($83m). Architectural Digest suggests the buyer was a tech CEO in his 20s—which seems very fitting!
Sprawling almost 25,000 square feet, the property benefits from stunning living spaces, a high-end kitchen, dining zones with city and mountain views, nine bedrooms, and nine bathrooms.
There's even a 4D Dolby Atmos-Sound home cinema with plush seating, a 3,000-bottle, temperature-controlled wine room and a games room with pool and poker tables. Design-wise, the house epitomises luxury, with the finest materials and details used throughout. Other key extras include the home's spa, which comes complete with a sauna, a steam room, and a massage room.
Plus, there's a truly mind-blowing backyard that spans 20,000 square feet. It includes sundecks and manicured gardens, as well as a swimming pool with a built-in, retractable film screen. The space is decorated with contemporary sculptures and statues reminiscent of Academy Awards, which are captured during an outdoor scene in the show.
Of course, all billionaires have their fair share of vacation homes, to swan off to whenever the need arises, and the fictional Roys are no different. Like many New Yorkers, the family escapes to the Hamptons as often as possible, and in Succession a seriously spectacular property acts as their holiday HQ.
The real Southampton mansion that they used on location was listed for £142 million ($182m) in the summer of 2017, and instantly became the most expensive home in the Hamptons.
Sprawling and stylish in equal measure, the property is no ordinary beach house! Located on Jule Pond, it was built in 1960 for a real-life family dynasty, the Fords—the people behind the iconic Ford Motor Company—who, according to Forbes are worth a cool £1.6 billion ($2b).
Created to their exacting needs, the retreat sits on 42 acres located just moments from the beach. The estate boasts the largest ocean frontage in the Hamptons—1,286 feet, The New York Times suggests.
Inside, the luxurious retreat measures 20,000 square feet and comes complete with a dazzling entrance hall, numerous high-end living rooms, a large kitchen, a games room, library, outdoor kitchen, tennis courts, a basketball court, a guest house, meditation gardens, and 12 bedrooms.
Lavishly decorated, the home is modern and fresh, thanks to a recent renovation. Plus, every room benefits from unobstructed views of Mecox Bay or the Atlantic Ocean.
This vibrant blue dining room has been used for several scenes in the show, including various awkward mealtime confrontations. The home's hallway, home office and formal living room have also featured, as has the gorgeous heated swimming pool outside. We can totally understand why the team behind Succession chose this beauty as the Roys' fictional holiday home!
In real life, the property is every bit as billionaire-worthy as it is on screen. The chic townhouse stands six storeys tall and boasts 11,000 square feet of stunning inside space. It dates back to 1920, but there's nothing old-fashioned about it...
The modern property was transformed during a high-end renovation into a celebration of extravagant interior design—think Swarovski crystal handles, Italian chandeliers and heated marble floors. Fans will remember this room since it was featured in the show numerous times.
The home's highlights include its glass garage, which allows the owner to gaze at their car from the entrance hall, its sleek elevator, and a majestic living room.
Other amazing features include this designer kitchen. There's also a home theatre, an indoor resistance pool, sauna, wine cellar, and 2,000 square feet of outdoor space. There are five bedrooms and 12 bathrooms, as well as luxury extras any high-flying media mogul would need—cutting-edge smart home automation, a security system, Siedel video intercom panels and sound system.
Stranger Things has been a cult classic since it hit Netflix back in 2016, drawing in millions of obsessed fans. The show follows a group of school friends who've uncovered secret government experiments and have to fight supernatural forces from The Upside Down.
Many of the most iconic sets are actually real – including the first home that Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) shares with her sons Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Will (Noah Schnapp).
While Stranger Things is mostly based in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, the real Byers house can be found in Fayetteville, Georgia. It hit the market at £246,000 ($314k) in September 2022; on sale for just one week, a savvy investor reportedly snapped up the property with sights set on transforming the film set into a Stranger Things-themed Airbnb.
The remote, three-bedroom home sits on six acres of land against a heavily wooded backdrop at the end of a somewhat spooky winding driveway. 149 Coastline Road was originally built in 1900, its clapboard structure hosting 1,846 square feet of living space inside…
We’re sure the new owner will have fun renovating and redecorating the former TV set, complete with its iconic fairy light alphabet wall. According to TMZ, the money-minded new owner plans to recreate the Byers' home, with different parts of the house resembling 'The Upside Down'. Plans also include transforming outdoor areas into scenes from the show, for a truly immersive Stranger Things experience.
While the original house from the first three seasons of Stranger Things is being renovated into an Airbnb, the Byers’ second family home also went on the market last year. Having featured in the first four episodes of season four, the house hit the market in December 2021 and was quickly snapped up.
Though in the series the house is located in the fictional town of Lenora Hills, California, the house can actually be found in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Built in 1966, the house occupies a leafy lot and benefits from a driveway, a lawn, and a small but attractive backyard, complete with a water feature. Inside, the property spans 4,350 square feet and is still, thankfully, just as wonderfully retro as you might remember.
Inside, the time warp home has four bedrooms, two separate living rooms, a dining room, a kitchen, and a 1,100-square-foot basement, complete with a built-in bar. From its rustic stone fireplaces to its popcorn ceilings, wood panelling, analogue thermostats, and vintage bathrooms (one has a baby pink tub, frilly curtains and a bold floral wallpaper), there's so much old-fashioned décor to admire.
Savvy fans will recognise various rooms in the home from the show. According to a document posted on Reddit, it took the show's production team almost a month to get the pad ready for filming. As well as altering the carpets, paintwork and wallpapers, the team swapped out modern appliances for vintage versions and added an array of old-fashioned furnishings.
The house last sold in December 2021, shortly after production wrapped, for around £353,500 ($277k) and has now been listed on Airbnb.
Having completed its fourth and final season last year, HBO's Westworld was the ultimate sci-fi show. While the first two seasons were set in a futuristic Wild West-themed amusement park, season three shifted the action to a futuristic Los Angeles, circa 2058.
In the opening shots of season three's premiere episode 'Parce Domine', we got a glimpse at the seriously cool pad belonging to Evan Rachel Wood's character, Dolores Abernathy.
The futuristic concrete home can actually be found a little way down the coast from Los Angeles, in the Californian city of Encinitas. Just like in the show, the ultra-modern property, known as Crescent House, sits on the edge of an impressive cliff, overlooking the ocean.
However, the show's special effects team digitally added extensive wings to the structure, to make it look bigger. They also edited away other neighbouring houses.
In 'Parce Domine', the house acts as an AI-controlled smart home, where Dolores holds Gerald Quist (Thomas Kretschmann) captive. The perfect setting for such an episode, the incredible cliff home boasts a labyrinthine layout, thick concrete walls, and floor-to-ceiling windows.
The house was finished in 2003 and measures an impressive 6,329 square feet. It has four bedrooms, four bathrooms and many indoor/outdoor living spaces.
Just like Alicia Keys' razor-thin mansion in San Diego, the futuristic property has panoramic ocean views, an amazing crescent-shaped infinity pool, and a whole host of luxurious extras, such as a gym, yoga studio, and media room. In April 2022 the pad hit the market for a cool £19.1 million ($24.4m) and sold in just 64 days.
Chronicling the real-life rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and her multi-billion-dollar health tech company Theranos, The Dropout stars Amanda Seyfried, Naveen Andrews, and Dylan Minnette (of 13 Reasons Why fame).
The movie explores how one woman's ambition for fame and fortune led to one of the biggest fraud cases in American history. Of course, the show needed an amazing house to double as Holmes' private residence...
Enter this imposing modern mansion. In The Dropout, this gorgeous property acts as the home that Elizabeth (Seyfried) shares with her boyfriend, Theranos president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani (Andrews). While in the show the house is located in northern California’s Atherton neighbourhood, in reality, the house can be found in Holmby Hills, just down the road from the Playboy Mansion.
With its traditional exterior, you'd be forgiven for thinking the house was historic. But actually it was constructed in 2017. Nestled on more than an acre of land, the residence is definitely a suitable backdrop for a show about a billion-dollar fraud.
It spans 19,900 square feet and boasts one seriously jaw-dropping interior. Just look at the entrance foyer! The two-storey space is flanked by twin glass staircases and has a marble floor and a barrel ceiling finished with wood.
Featuring seven bedrooms and 12 bathrooms, the pad is overflowing the luxe details – think decorative balustrades, Moorish ceiling domes, dramatic light fixtures and towering archways.
There's a huge eat-in kitchen with two massive marble islands, a games room with a bar, a screening room, a gym, a swimming pool, a tennis court and even a lake. The house was listed for sale in October 2019 for £40 million ($51.1m) but failed to sell. It was later available to rent for a cool £121,000 ($154k) a month.
First broadcast in 2008, Breaking Bad's unique storylines and gripping twists turned it into a cult phenomenon. The award-winning show followed chemistry teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston), who after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, finds an innovative yet illegal way to make some quick cash for his family. A decade-and-a-half on, Breaking Bad remains the second-highest IMBD-rated TV show of all time.
Fans of the show will remember the home of Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), Walt's partner in crime. In the show, Jesse used his newfound fortune to purchase his childhood home and the property played host to numerous iconic scenes. While the basement was used as a temporary laboratory and holding pen for gangster Krazy-8, the hallway will be remembered for the now-infamous bathtub dissolving scene.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Breaking Bad was set, the Spanish Colonial revival house spans 3,500 square feet and boasts style as well as substance. Attractive period details decorate every room, including original wood floors, stone-framed doors and ornamental fireplaces. The family room, which featured heavily in the show, offers a stunning double-height ceiling decorated with exposed beams.
The two-storey abode also features four bedrooms, a large kitchen, and two exterior porches. The makers of Breaking Bad are said to have initially used the interior of the house for shoots, before building an exact replica for any scenes that might have caused damage to the property – including many of Jesse's wild parties. This beautiful and historic abode sold in 2015 for £1.3 million ($1.7m).
The Golden Girls was a television smash throughout its seven-year run. The feel-good American sitcom starred Betty White, Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty as four mature women sharing a home in Miami, Florida. Yet in reality, the mid-century modern abode was actually located in Los Angeles, California, and the real thing is almost too cool to be true...
Offering striking architecture and a slice of Hollywood history, this eye-catching abode landed on the real estate market for the first time in 65 years in 2020, finally selling for £3.3 million ($4.2m).
Inspired by mid-century Japanese and Hawaiian architecture, the property was custom built in 1955 by the award-winning designers Johnson and Perkins. Thanks to a modern makeover, the interior is now every bit as dazzling as you might hope.
The grand four-bedroom abode is spacious and filled with natural light, thanks to floor-to-ceiling sliding doors, clerestory windows and ultra-high beamed ceilings. Expanses of glass also allow for a perfect transition between inside and out, while a natural colour palette and raw materials add to the home's organic mid-century aesthetic.
Although it offers an open-plan layout, Japanese sliding shoji screens and built-in cabinetry subtly zone off each space.
Boasting a quarter-of-an-acre of land, the pad also comes with almost 3,000 square feet of inside space. There are four bedrooms and three bathrooms, as well as plenty of perfectly preserved period details.
Key features include the rather eye-boggling turquoise and avocado kitchen and retro full-height brick fireplaces, which all add to the home's charms. Though many of The Golden Girls interior scenes were shot in a studio, this beautiful house remains a key part of the show.
In the late 60s and early 70s the world was obsessed with the dysfunctional set-up of one American family. The Brady Bunch ran on our TV screens for just five years, yet its legacy still endures.
In fact, in 2019 HGTV released A Very Brady Renovation, a show in which the original Brady kids joined the Property Brothers, Jonathan and Drew Scott, to recreate the iconic Brady Bunch house. The results, we're sure you'll agree, are simply mind blowing...
This classic mid-century modern in Studio City, California, was the setting for all the family drama in the classic American sitcom. An integral part of the show, the real-life house has been sold twice in the last 47 years.
In 2018 it went for £2.8 million ($3.6m) and the Property Brothers were given the task of bringing it back to its former glory. Leaving no stone unturned, they renovated the house to an extraordinary level of detail and the property is now a pop culture time capsule.
The ambitious project is said to have taken 9,000 hours over a six-month period. The Brady Bunch cast used their in-depth knowledge of the home's original design to refine every detail across its 2,477-square-foot interior.
Work included recreating the 60s landscaped garden and decorating the exterior with its original beige paint. Inside, the team tackled the iconic living room and staircase, finding identical furnishings and making replicas of the show's horse statue and two-sided fireplace.
The team also tackled the home's three bedrooms and their efforts can be seen most successfully in the girls' bedroom. Sickly sweet and baby pink, everything from the bedspreads to the kitsch wall decorations have been placed back in their original positions.
Apparently the second most photographed home in the USA, after the White House, the abode is now even more likely to attract Brady Bunch fans!
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Frequently soapy and salacious, Downton Abbey is a cult classic period drama with swoon-worthy production values. The hit show is set in the fictional Downton Abbey, a stately home in the Yorkshire countryside, and follows the lives of the Crawley family and their staff in the rapidly changing world of the early 19th century.
While Downton itself may be fictional, the show was filmed in the very real Highclere castle, which is every bit as spectacular as Julian Fellowes’ creation. This Grade I-listed country house was built in 1679, and is set on a sprawling 5,000-acre estate. Largely renovated in the 1840s in the Jacobean and Italianate styles, the home is the country seat of the real-life Earls of Carnarvon.
Today, the house and grounds are open to the public for tours during the summer months, allowing fans to revel in the spectacular living, dining, and sleeping quarters that so closely resemble the sets from the show.
The opulent rooms feature spectacular coffered ceilings, marble fireplaces, magnificent chandeliers, and priceless works of art. It’s all too easy to picture the cast of the show lounging in these plush surroundings.
However, behind the scenes, a tremendous amount of work is constantly in progress to keep the ancient home is good condition. In the early 2000s, the Highclere was in such a poor state of repair that 50 of its rooms were uninhabitable. Fortunately, the windfall brought in by Downton’s filming and the subsequent surge of tourists has allowed for substantial repairs over the last decade.
One of the most-streamed shows in the US in 2023, Suits is most famous for featuring the not-yet Duchess of Sussex, a young Meghan Markle. However, the show is really a juicy legal drama, following the unlikely partnership of a top-flight partner in a New York law firm, Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) and his uneducated but savant-like associate (Patrick J. Adams).
Many viewers will have found themselves drooling over Harvey’s Specter’s sophisticated, industrial style apartment, which many characters in the show joke is the only ‘relationship’ to which he has ever been able to commit. Fans of the show would have been thrilled when the sleek pad was listed for sale in 2022, but were likely equally shocked to learn that the apartment is actually located in the King West neighbourhood of Toronto, rather than New York City.
While the interiors of the apartment in these listing photos definitely don’t bare any resemblance to Harvey’s minimalist style, the floor, counters, and kitchen appliances should all be recognizable to fans of the show. Even the shelving units which famously held Harvey’s beloved record collection are the same.
With 3,000 square feet of inside living space and an additional 2,000 outside, including a heated pool, built in barbeque, and outdoor TV, it’s not hard to imagine why this space was picked to stand in as the home of a high-flying NYC lawyer. The posh apartment was initially listed for $4,995,000 CAD ($3.7m USD or £2.9m), and ultimately sold for just below asking at $4,749,000 CAD ($3.5m USD or £2.7m).