Fool Me Once's Bolton School is a huge hit with TV crews

And now it proving a huge draw for film and television crews, with Bolton School featured in some of the biggest productions aired giving it an international showcase.

So much so, our American cousins cannot get enough of it, and cannot believe children in Bolton go to school in a castle.

Read more: Bolton School is a big hit in America after its appearance in drama Get Even

More recently the opening scenes of Netflix hit drama Fool Me Once are shot in Bolton School.

It also played a key role in teenage detective drama Get Even, Cold Feet, The Stranger, Last Tango In Halifax and Our Girl.

Adele Hughes, manager of Bolton School's wedding and events department, said: “Quite often people will say they wish they had been to a school like this and of course the Hogwarts comments we get all the time.

“It’s the things like the doors, the stained-glass windows, and the halls.”

And the  money raised through filming helps the young people of Bolton and beyond access education - Bolton  School is one of the best schools in the country.

Although fee paying, it continues its commitment to maintaining Lord Leverhulme’s philanthropic legacy to “promote educational aspirational for all”.

Read more: Bolton School 'continues Lord Leverhulme's legacy'

Bolton School is not just chosen to film school scenes, its huge campus is hugely versatile for many other scenes. 

Adele said: “We can be more than a school and crews are creative so they can make it into anything.

“Because we are a private property, they do not need to consider road closures or anything.”

Currently one in five students are on the bursary fund scheme but the school would like this to be one in three.

Adele said: “We want more opportunity for more students who have the ability to study here.

“It is the fabulous buildings that generate income from the location which contributes to the school bursary fund that enables pupils to come to the school regardless of finances."

The students are not around when filming takes place in the summer outside of school terms, but they are still involved in other ways, with some youngsters taking up roles as extras on sets.

Filming takes place in the summer and takes a long time, but the school is enamoured with how the production is put together.

Adele said: “It was great to have a whole summer of it with long days of around 13 hours.

“People will come back to us and remember being here for different productions.

“It’s really interesting to see how much activity goes into making productions.

“You might see two people having a chat on screen but when you see it being made, it is different.

“You see how many times they do a take and how meticulous they are with getting the scenes.”

The entrance and the great halls are the most popular areas of filming at the site.

Adele thinks this is because, due to the aesthetic of the school’s entrance and halls as well as the use of a big space, crews can do almost anything with.

She said: “They love the outdoor space we have too and can create anything.

“Princess Mirror-Belle filmed using a mirror.

“At times crews use the headmaster’s study door, but the back of the door will be somewhere else.”

Staff being used to filming at the school is thought to be another major reason why crews keep returning.

Adele added: “It helps them because we can advise where something can fit or go and can pinpoint it to them.

“We are immensely proud of it, and I have friends in Australia who will watch a show and say, ‘is that your school?’”

“We are versatile and have seen our spaces become army barracks, and it’s just great to see the school being utilised like this too.”

Recently, head of foundation at the school, Phillip Britton, tweeted The Times, which missing out the "Hollywood of the North" in an article on popular filming locations in England.

He said: “Inexplicably, this @thetimes review of filming locations you might holiday near misses out Bolton, the “Hollywood of the North”.”

READ MORE: Snub by city chiefs despite Bolton's leading role in ‘Hollywood of the North’

Elsewhere in Bolton, Le Mans Crescent is famous for Peaky Blinders, It’s A Sin, Ridley and Nolly, which featured Hollywood star Helena Bonham Carter.

And Bolton Town Hall became a winter backdrop for A Gentleman in Moscow with A-lister Ewan McGregor coming to town.