It’s Elementary! The UK’s most searched for homes from TV and Film revealed!
To say we’ve all been spending a lot more time at home in 2020 is a bit of an understatement!
It’s not surprising then that after staring at your own four walls for so long, even with the best home improvement efforts, your mind might start to wander elsewhere.
Whether looking for inspiration for your next Sims 4 or Animal Crossing project, or just dreaming of quarantining in a magical place, at Miller Homes we analysed Google search data to see which fictional homes you’ve all been browsing for...
Top 10 Most Googled Fictional Homes
221b Baker Street – otherwise known as Sherlock Holmes’ home – was first in the rankings. Though he muttered ‘elementary’ on more than one occasion, this home covered more than the basic needs for its eccentric, observant inhabitant. All sorts of experiments and mysteries were solved in this humble flat.
Every TV series or film that’s been made about the detective over the years re-imagines the property slightly differently, but we think it’s thanks to Benedict Cumberbatch’s wider appeal that thousands of people regularly google the address. At the time Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the stories of his famous detective, the address didn’t actually exist but, fittingly, 221b Baker Street today hosts the world-famous ‘Sherlock Holmes Museum’.
Historical homes seem to be popular, with Downton Abbey second on the list. If you’re one of the 6,600 per month who have been searching for this place, then you’ll know that it’s actually called Highclere Castle, based in Berkshire. Now that public spaces are open again and with ‘staycations’ on the rise, you could even head here on a sunny weekend to see the stunning 5,000 acre estate in real life.
Top 10 Fictional Homes From Film and TV That Actually Exist
These are the real-life locations of famous fictional homes in the UK and Ireland:
- Downton Abbey (Highclere Castle, Berkshire)
- Batman – Wayne Manor (Wollaton Hall, Nottingham)
- Harry Potter – 4 Privet Drive (Warner Bros. Studio Tour, London)
- Father Ted (County Clare, Ireland)
- Sex Education - (Forest of Dean)
- Only Fools and Horses (Harlech Tower in Acton, West London)
- Gavin and Stacey (Pam and Mick’s Essex house is actually filmed in Dinas Powys, Wales)
- Poldark (Chavenage House in Tetbury doubles as Trenwith, the home of the Poldarks)
- Fresh Meat (Mayfield Road, Manchester)
- Peep Show (Zodiac Court, Croydon).
Alongside the stunning Highclere Castle, the famous Home Alone house remains firmly in our hearts. The red-bricked property acted as the base for Macaulay Culkin, aka Kevin McAllister’s unsupervised mischief in the first film. The real house is in Winnetka, Illinois, 25 minutes north of Chicago. It’s now been bought by private owners, but that doesn’t stop passers-by from pausing to snap a ‘shocked face’ selfie in front of it.
Home Alone director Chris Columbus could forge a second career as an estate agent, with another prominent house from his repertoire making this list. 2640 Steiner Street, as seen in Mrs Doubtfire, survived an arson attempt in 2015, but can still be seen from the ‘sidewalk’ of the same address in San Francisco.
Friends remains just as loved these days as it was back in the 90s, making it the fifth most popular search. You can catch the all-famous external view next time you’re in NYC, but the interior of the apartment block was filmed on a soundstage in California!
Various stately homes have been used to represent Wayne Manor, the home of Batman. Famously in recent years, Nottingham’s Wollaton Hall was used to represent the brooding home of Bruce Wayne in the final Christopher Nolan Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.
Where else did you search?
Beyond those that you could actually visit (one day), there were many other homes on our list in a variety of styles. Home to the famous ‘cupboard under the stairs’, The Dursley’s house from Harry Potter remains hugely popular and can be seen on the famous Warner Bros Studio tour near London.
More spooky searches included Doctor Strange and The Addams Family.
‘Sims 4 House’ ranked highly, as the nation heads to the ‘net for some inspiration from the world’s best virtual builders.
Finally, animated homes are also popular with The Simpsons and Family Guy appearing in our research. Perhaps gamers want to recreate their own versions in their video games?
Though impressive, these homes from TV and film remain fictional, but at Miller Homes we continue to make people’s dreams of owning their perfect new home a reality.
Methodology
All results are based on SEMRush keyword data correct as of October 2020. Most searched for fictional homes were calculated by using the following keywords: “show name + house”, “character name + house”, “alter ego + house” and “fictional address”. The results were added together to give you the numbers in the graphic.