Season two of The Gentlemen expands the canvas from English country estates to the sun-drenched palazzos of Italy, pushing the story of Duke Eddie Horniman and his cannabis empire into Mafia territory. Guy Ritchie’s series follows Horniman and business partner Susie Glass as they attempt to go international, seeking a partnership with Capo dei Capi Marco Moretti. The production team selected a mix of historic British properties and Italian landmarks to ground the series’ blend of aristocratic history and organized crime, utilizing real locations to lend authenticity to the narrative.
From Gloucestershire to Surrey: The English Country Houses
The exterior of Halstead Manor, the fictional family estate, was filmed at The Badminton Estate in Gloucestershire. Supervising location manager Iggy Ellis noted that the site felt immediately right for the story because it was a proper, lived-in home rather than a National Trust museum. The estate features cracks, tired bits, and walking sticks by the door to suggest a real family history, though the property has also appeared in Netflix’s Bridgerton and films like Pearl Harbour.
Interior scenes required a different setting. Stoke Court in Buckinghamshire served as the study where Freddie shoots a drug dealer in a chicken costume, as well as the boot room and orangery. Loseley Park in Surrey provided the exteriors for the gamekeeper’s cottage, while Swakeleys House in Ickenham doubled as a rehab centre and a prison interior. Production designer Martyn John recalls that Ashcombe Estate in Wiltshire, Ritchie’s own home, was used for a shooting party scene, requiring the transport of food, dogs, guns, and even frozen partridges.
London Underground and Art Deco Auction Houses
The series contrasts the country estates with the gritty criminal underworld of London. The Adelphi Building on The Strand was transformed into an auction house for a scene where Susie Glass bids on a Botticelli painting. Ellis described the chase sequence that followed, which utilized a network of streets around the Savoy Hotel and a secret tunnel connecting John Adam Street to the riverside. They held complex negotiations with Westminster Council and the Savoy Hotel to close the streets for filming.
Other London locations included The Reform Club on Pall Mall, which doubled for Pinky’s Club, and Billingsgate Market, mentioned by name in the series as the headquarters of the Liverpudlian drug group. These spots ground the opulent country settings in the rough reality of the criminal trade.
Moving to Italy: Lake Maggiore and the Mafia
For the new season, the production moved to Italy to reflect the international expansion of the business. Villa Rusconi Clerici on the shores of Lake Maggiore became the palazzo home of the Mafia heiress and Horniman’s love interest. Ellis wanted the villa to reflect the taste and scale of Halstead Manor to visually merge the two aristocratic families, despite the centuries-old history of both locations.
Grand Hotel Majestic, also on Lake Maggiore, stood in for the fictional Grand Hotel where a wedding takes place later in the series. The hotel, built in 1870, is a popular wedding venue today and was chosen for its view across the lake to Borromeo Island. The 16th-century Chiesa San Leonardo in the village of Pallanza provided a dramatic setting with pink Baveno granite columns, 17th-century wooden sculptures, and a 65-metre high bell tower.
Historical Roots of the Locations
The selection of these locations provided a layer of historical weight to the narrative. The Badminton Estate has been occupied for thousands of years, with remains of Roman villas nearby, and was once home to Sir Thomas Somerset. The Adelphi Building retains its original 1930s Art Deco features and is now the headquarters of Condé Nast.
