As we’ve documented in our lists of films and of music videos shot in Barbados,the island has seen its fair share of international motion picture productions. In this list, as the title suggests, we’re focusing on the television series that were filmed here.
This list includes both fiction and non-fiction series; a soap opera, two travel documentaries, two motoring series, and a teen drama. You won’t see any reality series here. That’s a list for another day. There are quite a few.
Like with our previous two lists, this isn’t a definitive list of every single television series that was filmed in Barbados.
Without further ado, here are some TV series that were filmed in Barbados.
The Bold and the Beautiful
It’s well known in Barbados that The Bold and the Beautiful was filmed at the pink hut on the rock in Bathsheba. But did you know that that storyline was actually set in Barbados? Ridge and Lauren are on the island looking for Brooke, who is experiencing a psychotic break. Though Bathsheba is the location seen most often, other locations are used in the iconic soap.
Perhaps most notable is Sam Lord’s Castle. It’s mentioned by name and is where Ridge and Lauren are staying. As they arrive to check in they’re greeted at the steps of the hotel by none other than Wendell Smith, who’s playing a concierge.
According to Brooke Comer in her book The Secret Caribbean: Hideaways of the Rich and Famous, 15 episodes were filmed near Sam Lord’s Castle. On IMDb the summaries for episodes 2272-2276, 2278-2281, 2283-2288, and 2290 all detail events that took place while Brooke, Ridge, and Lauren were in Barbados. These episodes aired from April 18th to May 14th, 1996.
Also mentioned by name is Speightstown, where Ridge and Lauren go in search of Brooke. While there, they watch a parade that includes the Barbados Police Service band – playing Red Plastic Bag’s “Ragga Ragga” – a tuk band, and dancers dressed in grass outfits. They also stop and admire chattel houses. Lauren calls them “interesting looking”. Ridge says they’re “like tiny doll houses”.
Other filming locations were Welchman Hall Gully and the Animal Flower Cave, but neither are named.
Cherry Tree Hill is named in the series, but the area identified as Cherry Tree Hill was clearly filmed at Bathsheba and Welchman Hall Gully. However, there are two or three shots in the scene that could have been filmed there.
Wendell Smith isn’t the only local entertainer to appear in the series. John Walcott, aka Tubby De Guard, plays a man at a restaurant that Brooke stole food from. Andrew Pilgrim plays a police officer investigating the string of food robberies perpetuated by Brooke and whose daughter spends time with her at the hut in Bathsheba.
Finally, another piece of Barbados that made it into the series is The Merrymen’s song “Beautiful Barbados”.
Click here to see Barbados in The Bold and the Beautiful: The Bold and the Beautiful in Barbados.
Three Sheets
Three Sheets was a travel documentary series in which host Zane Lamprey travelled from country to country exploring the local drinking culture. The series took its title from the phrase “three sheets to the wind”; when one is very, very drunk. In the Barbados episode, Lamprey was accompanied by Olympic windsurfer Brian Talma on some of his adventures around the island.
There are quick shots of several locations around Barbados in the episode: Kiddies Bar in Checker Hall, Red Man Bar, the Barbados Port, the East Coast, and Kensington Oval.
Lamprey visited and filmed segments in Mount Gay Rum Distillery, The Cliff restaurant, Bridgetown, Bottom Bay, Browne’s Beach, George’s Fishnet and Grill and Lexie’s Rum Shop in Oistins, Angry Annies Restaurant in Holetown, and Silver Rock Beach. He also went sailing with Talma on the Ocean Racing Challenge.
Throughout the episode he takes a few moments to educate viewers about the drinks he’s trying. He does this for Mount Gay rum, Foursqaure Distilleries’ velvet falernum, Banks Beer, and Klayton’s Kola Tonic.
Watch the full episode here:
Top Gear
Top Gear is a British motoring television series. The hosts review vehicles, do challenges, and compete in races. At the time that it was filmed in Barbados, it was hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond. The island is featured, very briefly, in episode seven of series 14.
In said episode, Jeremy Clarkson travels to Australia, Spain, France, and Hong Kong to “test the abilities” of the BMW X6. There is a running joke that Clarkson and his fellow hosts are spending the show’s budget frivolously, hence his unnecessarily travelling to see how the car performs.
Clarkson determines that he would rather spend the money needed to run the vehicle annually on a Caribbean holiday. He travels to Barbados and jet skis and sips a piña colada on the beach.
Watch the short “Barbados section” of the segment here:
The Grand Tour
After leaving Top Gear, Clarkson, May, and Hammond started The Grand Tour. It was essentially the same as Top Gear until the format was changed for its fourth season. In episode 10 of The Grand Tour, Clarkson, May, and Hammond plan to sink five car bodies off the coast of Barbados to develop new coral reefs.
Unfortunately, they lose two of them by accidentally dropping them in the Bridgetown Port and sink the small boat that they’d bought for the venture in the process. They lose two other car bodies at what looks to be Heywoods Beach after failed attempts to retrieve them from the shore. The boats were sunk the previous day, but drifted to shore because they had not been secured. In the end, they manage to sink only one of the cars.
Other locations in the episode include the East Coast/East Coast Road, Cherry Tree Hill, and Port St. Charles.
The Grand Tour is available on Amazon Prime Video.
Outer Banks
Outer Banks is an American teen drama produced by and streamed on Netflix. Set in the titular coastal area of Outer Banks, North Carolina, the show follows John B and his friends as he tries to find out what happened to his missing father. Much of the second season takes place in the Bahamas, for which Barbados was used as a stand-in.
Filming took place in March of 2021. Local production company Crucial Productions, led by Phil Archer, worked on the series.
Season two of Outer Banks was filmed in Bridgetown, Cove Spring House, Cherry Tree Hill, Fairmont Royal Pavilion, Speightstown, Holetown, the Grantley Adams International Airport, and outside of Royal Westmoreland.
Local actors like Levi King, Justin King, and Marcus Myers appear in the season.
The production returned to Barbados in February of 2022 to film parts of season three.
This complication video shows the locations around Barbados seen in the second season of Outer Banks:
The Caribbean With Andi and Miquita
The Caribbean With Andi and Miquita is a two-part BBC Two television special hosted by mother and daughter duo Andi and Miquita Oliver. Curious about their Caribbean heritage, the two travel to Antigua and Barbuda (Andi’s mother is Antiguan) and Barbados to explore their roots. They travel to Barbados in the second episode.
During the episode you see glimpses of the Grantley Adams International Airport, the Garrison Savannah, Hastings Police Station, St. John Parish Church, Morgan Lewis, St. Peter, Bridgetown, Walkers Beach, Sandy Layne, Holetown, and other areas around Barbados.
They filmed segments at Browne’s Beach, Pebbles Beach, Mount Friendship, Wkd beAch Lofts, Lancaster Plantation House, the East Coast, Shark Hole, and Ngozi Farm and Cultural Sanctuary.
Krosfyah’s “Pump Me Up” and Peter Ram’s “Good Morning” make appearances in the episode.
