My Dad’s Christmas Date Filming Locations
My Dad's Christmas Date (2020) was filmed across Yorkshire, England, with locations in York, Beverley, and Birdsall. Full addresses and location details inside.
York, England is where director Mick Davis shot the majority of the film, with Beverley and the village of Birdsall rounding out the main Yorkshire locations. Principal photography ran from late 2019 to January 2020, using York’s genuine Christmas season as both backdrop and production asset. The city’s real market stalls, period decorations, and street lighting were already in place when cameras arrived. The film was produced by York-based MSR Media, with a screenplay by Toby Torlesse, Brian Marchetti, and Jack Marchetti.
The film was distributed theatrically in the United States by Gravitas Ventures on November 6, 2020. It later became available on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. It entered production under the working title “Let There Be Love,” which still appears on some UK rental and streaming listings.
York Provided Most of the Film’s Locations
York Minster on Deangate, Lendal Bridge over the River Ouse, and Clifford’s Tower, the remaining keep of York Castle on Tower Street, all appear in the film’s opening sequence as David (Jeremy Piven) drives his daughter Jules (Olivia-Mai Barrett) to school. York, where the family lives, anchors nearly every scene in the film. Reviews note the production used drone footage of the city extensively to establish its geography. David is a widowed American whose wife died before the film begins, and his 16-year-old daughter Jules secretly registers him for online dating during the Christmas period.
Where the Dating Scenes Were Shot
York Art Gallery on Exhibition Square is the setting for David’s first onscreen date, with Natasha (Sophie Corcoran). As the two walk through the square, Bootham Bar, the medieval city gate, is visible in the background. In a separate sequence, Jules watches from above as David runs into his third date; filming location sources credit the York Castle Museum on Tower Street for that sequence.
When David takes out Veronica (Rebecca Mellor), the cafe scene that follows was filmed at The Perky Peacock on North Street. After David leaves in frustration, the film shows him on a bench in the adjacent Yorkshire Museum Gardens. The cafe and the garden bench are at two distinct spots along the same stretch of the River Ouse, not a single continuous location.
David’s more deliberate date, with Amanda (Genevieve Capovilla), takes place at Hotel du Vin York at 89 The Mount.
The School, the Market, the Shambles, and the Cinema
Jules attends St. Peter’s School, shown on its Clifton campus in York. The school’s own website describes it as the fourth-oldest in the world, tracing its founding to AD 627, when St Paulinus of York established it on the same site as York Minster. The campus covers 50 acres of riverside grounds. Guy Fawkes attended the school in the 16th century.
York’s Christmas market on Parliament Street appears during an early montage. The Shambles, the narrow medieval lane running between Newgate and Pavement, is used for a scene between Jules and her friend Emma (Hadar Cats) outside one of the shops. For the scene where Jules attends a cinema with Ben (Felix Butterwick), the production used City Screen Picturehouse at 13-17 Coney Street.
The film’s final father-daughter dance was filmed at the York Castle Museum on Tower Street, in the museum’s Victorian street reconstruction known as Kirkgate.
Beverley Minster Stood in for York Minster
The choir sequences in the film appear on screen to be set inside York Minster, but they were filmed at Beverley Minster on Highgate in Beverley, approximately 27 miles southeast of York. Both churches are Gothic in construction and comparable in scale, which accounts for their similar visual character on screen.
Sarah (Joely Richardson), who plays David’s former girlfriend and is not one of the dating-app matches Jules arranges, first appears in the film at The Monks Walk pub at 19 Highgate, directly across the street from Beverley Minster.
Birdsall House: Near Malton, Not in It
The interior scene featuring pink sofas, oil paintings, and a chandelier was filmed at Birdsall House, in the village of Birdsall, approximately four miles south of Malton in the North Yorkshire Wolds. Several online sources list this location simply as “Malton,” but Birdsall is a separate civil parish that carries a YO17 Malton postal code. The estate has been in the Willoughby family for roughly 500 years and is the seat of Baron Middleton. It accepts private event bookings.
