Half the world knows the apartment where Carrie Bradshaw lives. Or the New Jersey mansion where Tony Soprano ate, slept, and worried about the ducks in his pool. In the 1990s, if you asked a large part of the global population where Will Smith lived, they would immediately picture a huge white house in Bel Air.
For the real people who live in those places, this can be a problem.
“We had lots of issues with people just walking in during Covid,” says Kate Fox, who lives in a house that appeared in the British soap opera Emmerdale, during the years it was filmed entirely in her West Yorkshire village of Esholt. “Someone actually came and just stuck their head through our front door. Maybe once a month, someone will open the door or do something inappropriate like peeking through your windows. People have no problem completely invading your space – but you get used to it.”
Public intrusion is a common experience for residents of homes made famous by TV shows. In 2015, Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad, had to ask fans to stop paying tribute to his show – because they were recreating a scene where a whole pizza is thrown onto the roof of the house used as Walter White’s bungalow. And last year, the owner of the apartment made famous by Sex and the City’s main character put up a gate outside it because “at any hour of the day or night, there are groups of visitors in front of the house taking flash photos, chatting loudly, posting on social media, making TikTok videos, or just celebrating the moment.” Eventually, the owners of the Breaking Bad house did the same, putting up a 6-foot iron fence – not that it stopped fans. “They still try to throw pizzas even though she’s got a gate, she’s got signage,” said Frank Sandoval, who runs Breaking Bad tours to the house in an RV. “They even try to climb the gate.”
But not everyone sees the arrival of crowds of fans as a bad thing. “At first, I was confused why they would want to come in,” says Glenda Kenyon, whose place in Barry, south Wales, appears in the BBC sitcom Gavin and Stacey as the home of Stacey’s mum, Gwen. “I just said, no, sorry, I can’t do it. Then the second year I thought, no, I’ve got to change it, so I started opening up.”
Glenda turned her home into a walk-in tribute to the show. It has a collection of memorabilia including fridge magnets, key rings, tea towels, and “nearly every T-shirt you can buy.” She’s set up a photo opportunity in the kitchen with the frying pan Gwen uses to cook her famous omelettes, as well as a face mask of the character that visitors can put on. She even ended up partnering on tours with a coach company, whose “Dave’s Coaches” bus regularly appeared in the show, and another run by Knock-off Nessa – who impersonates Ruth Jones’s character. Last year, she welcomed 168 busloads of people to her home, and it has given her a renewed sense of purpose.
“I was lonely before, so lonely,” says Glenda, who lives alone and has experienced depression. “It has changed my life, because before I was so quiet, and now I can open up. I’m a hell of a lot better than I used to be. When you’re meeting people, you’re not thinking about the depression. I had no friends before, and now I got everybody.”
Having a home that’sBeing famous on TV doesn’t just change the lives of the people who own the show. If the show is popular enough, it can transform an entire area—as a part of Richmond in London discovered after Ted Lasso was filmed there. The upscale jewelry shops and Panama hat boutiques lining the stylish alleyway where the soccer coach lives are now joined by the Ted Lasso Store. It features a recreated locker room with a “Believe” poster and a replica shirt for every player, all available for purchase alongside mugs, scarves, and snow globes. Across the street, an Italian restaurant draws customers with a £5 “Eat like Ted” deal that gives you a box of Ted’s favorite shortbread biscuits.
“I didn’t realize it would be such a big deal,” says Reece Kent, who lives above and manages The Prince’s Head pub—Lasso’s regular spot. “Before I started working here, I thought, okay, we might get a few tourists. But I get 150 to 200 a day. At first, it was just people from America, but now it’s Germany, Australia, Japan. I had a couple from Jamaica the other day.”
Richmond isn’t the only place this has happened to. Over 37 years, a suburb of Melbourne was visited by more than a quarter of a million soap opera fans on bus tours, all eager to see the real-life street that doubled as Neighbours‘ Ramsay Street—so much so that a security guard was permanently stationed there. Esholt also had its share of soap fans, with regular coach tours showing up. But Richmond is still packed with fans, and the pub has turned one table into a designated fan area, next to a big AFC Richmond logo, a replica shirt, and signed pictures of the cast. It’s now the final stop on a Lasso tour, where large groups of tourists regularly come to see the fake dartboard from the show and compete to sit at the table where Lasso chatted with his assistant coach, Beard. For Kent, though, there’s been one unexpected side effect: convincing fans that he didn’t inspire a character in the show—the similarly named Roy Kent.
“A couple of weeks after I started, a tourist came in who’d seen my name on the website and made all these connections that Roy Kent was based on me,” laughs Kent. “Luckily, after a while, they believed it was actually based on Roy Keane. I would have loved to be Roy Keane, but I’m not.”
Being mistaken for a star of the show isn’t the only strange result of having a TV show filmed in your home. “The end of our house had a vet’s waiting room and surgery in when I was growing up,” says Fox, who spent part of her childhood navigating around cables and lights and being told to stay quiet during takes. That is, until Emmerdale moved production to a set and decided to create a mock-up of Fox’s home as one of the highlights of the now-closed Granada Studios tourist attraction. “So there was an exact copy of my front lounge in a studio. Me and my mum went a few years ago. It was just a bizarre, bizarre place to be.”
Its effect on residents’ finances doesn’t hurt either. “When we were kids, we sold tours of the house when my parents were out. We’d charge about 50p and let people have a look around,” says Fox. “I think the tourists liked getting a tour from a child. I never got any complaints!”Owners of TV-famous homes who want to sell also have little to complain about. When the owners of Walter White’s Breaking Bad house eventually got tired of fan attention, they sold it for $1.3 million—reportedly to a streamer who plans to “treat it like a monument.” That’s not bad compared to the $350,000–400,000 that neighboring homes are worth. Esholt has attracted superfans “who have moved here specifically for the Emmerdale connection,” according to Fox. And two of the houses featured in Gavin and Stacey have recently been bought by superfans—one of which was sold exactly as it appeared on screen, because, as the buyers said, “To be able to own the original furniture was the cherry on top of the cake for us.”
Having a house linked to TV stars can also work the other way. Fox’s family might have lost their home if it weren’t for the relationship they built with an Emmerdale actor. “At one point, Mum and Dad were at risk of losing the house to the council. Leah Bracknell [who played Zoe Tate] contacted the press and said: ‘You need to write about this,'” says Fox. “She’d appear in photos with them as well, and they did end up being allowed to buy the house from the council. We’ve still got all the press clippings now. She was really, really nice.”
Several of the Ted Lasso stars also grew fond of their filming locations. According to Kent, “they’d pop in on days they weren’t filming—for lunch or just a drink,” though Lasso himself wasn’t the main one doing it. “Jason Sudeikis [who plays Lasso] only popped in once. I had Coach Beard in a couple of times. Dani Rojas was the main one—he’d have lunch and bring friends. They were lovely.”
Despite getting to meet celebrities, living somewhere TV famous isn’t for everyone. “People who moved here during filming or since, they really do struggle with the tourists—they think it’s so rude and shocking that people just walk into your house,” says Fox. But, ultimately, for some people, it brings real happiness—especially if you’re a fan of the show. “I was over the moon when I first saw my house on telly. Every time I watch, I’m going: ‘That’s mine! That’s mine!'” says Glenda. “People tell me that I’ve put Barry on the map and I do feel like that’s true. I’ve had people from India, Africa, New Zealand, Swindon—you name it, I’ve had them. I’m very proud. I’ve done something in my life I can be happy about.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs based on the title We get 200 tourists a day when your home becomes a TV star
General Beginner Questions
1 What does the title We get 200 tourists a day actually mean
It means that a specific locationusually a private home or a small businessbecame so famous that hundreds of people now show up every day just to look at it or take photos
2 How does a normal home become a TV star
Usually a location scout picks the house because it fits the scripts vibe After the show airs fans recognize the house and start visiting
3 Do the owners get paid if their house is on TV
Yes typically Production companies pay a location fee for the days they film However this is usually a onetime payment The owners rarely get a cut of the shows profits or the tourism money
4 Is it legal for tourists to just show up at a private home
No If its a private residence the sidewalk and street are public but the property itself is private Tourists can legally stand on the public street to take photos but they cannot enter the yard touch the house or block the driveway
5 What kind of shows usually cause this
Streaming hits reality TV shows and blockbuster movies are the biggest culprits Even a 10second establishing shot can trigger a flood of visitors
Advanced ProblemSolving Questions
6 What are the biggest problems for the residents when this happens
The main issues are loss of privacy constant noise traffic jams people using the bathroom or throwing trash on the lawn and tourists peeking through windows Some owners report feeling like animals in a zoo
7 Can the owners do anything to stop the tourists
They can build higher fences install No Trespassing signs and call the police for loitering However they cannot block the public sidewalk Some owners have even painted the house a different color or planted tall hedges to make it less recognizable
