Where was Des filmed? Filming locations for the ITV’s true crime series

“Practically speaking, it was an incredibly challenging drama to make, as we were filming in modern London while trying to depict London in 1983.”

“The only location that we filmed in that was part of the real case were the halls and corridors of the Old Bailey, which feature in episodes two and three.

"The scale and grandeur of the Old Bailey is something you can’t replicate or find elsewhere, and offered us a chance to locate some of the drama within the actual reality of the case.”

The actual murders took place in two homes that Nilsen lived at in North London: 195 Melrose Avenue and 23 Cranley Gardens.

Although they were unable to use the exact houses, the team decided film on location in similar areas.

Cranley Gardens, Crouch End

The scenes outside Nilsen's house at 23 Cranley Gardens were filmed in a nearby property in Cranley Gardens, Crouch End.

Des Director Luke Neal told Radio Times: "We ended up shooting in the area of Crouch End.

"This was due to the fact the houses around Cranley Gardens shared the exact same architecture, which we couldn’t find in other London boroughs.”

Director Lewis Arnold also said: "There's a lot of design work at Crawley Gardens, it was a set build.

"We filmed in North London due to the architecture of the houses, as Crawley was such an iconic image."

The scenes set Nilsen's other property at 195 Melrose Avenue shot at a property in Watford.

Inside Nilsen's flat

The scenes set inside Nilsen’s flat were filmed in a studio - and producers made sure the set look exactly the same as real-life records.

Director Luke Neal said the crew "went as far as having the original wallpaper replicated, and hunted down matches for almost all of the furniture Nilsen owned".

The set is so similar to the interior of Nilsen's home that members of the cast including Daniels May and Jason Watkins called the set "disturbing" and "terrifying".

Des producer Kim Varvell also said: "Being able to build the interior of Crawley was brilliant for us, it was really eerie and was an exact replica."

Holloway prison

The scenes in which Nilsen is awaiting trial were filmed in Holloway Prison.

In actual fact, Nilsen spent this period his jail-time at HM Prison Full Sutton.

HMP Shepton Mallet

Many of Nilsen's latter prison scenes were filmed at the now-derelict HMP Shepton Mallet in Somerset.

In the true events, Nilsen spent his later years, incarcerated at Full Sutton maximum security prison, Yorkshire.

The prison is a Grade II listed building and closed in 2013.

The site now attracts ghost-hunters.

At the time, a spokesman for ITV said: "We filmed at the location for two days."

When does Des start on ITV?

New I kicks off TONIGHT (September 14, 2020)

You can catch it from 9pm on ITV.

Des is written by Luke Neal and Kelly Jones.

It is based on material from the book Killing For Company by Brian Masters.