The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: All the Sheffield and Barnsley locations where new film was shot

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, based on the best-selling book by Rachel Joyce, is in cinemas from this Friday, April 28. It follows the titular character, an ‘unremarkable’ man who does something truly remarkable by walking some 500 miles from Devon to Berwick-upon-Tweed to deliver a message to his dying friend.

His incredible ‘walk of hope’, which surprises him as much as his wife Maureen, showcases some of the UK's most spectacular scenery and sees him pass through South Yorkshire. The Star has already reported how the trailer features him walking up one of Sheffield’s many hills at the bottom of Norfolk Road, overlooking the city centre, with a row of hikers in tow – a scene understood to have been shot in October 2021 when an appeal went out for extras in the area.

Now the film’s makers have revealed how the cast and crew also visited Norton Woodseats and Chapeltown, in Sheffield, as well as Barnsley and Staincross. The film was shot in chronological order, though the cast did not walk the whole way.

Rachel Joyce also wrote the screenplay for the big screen adaptation of her novel, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and has sold more than six million copies worldwide. The film is directed by BAFTA winner Hettie Macdonald, whose other work includes Normal People and Howards End. It is described as an ‘uplifting tale of self-discovery, redemption and learning to seize the moment’.