Filming Locations for Sleuth

“You're a jumped-up pantry boy who doesn't know his place.”

Trust nothing in this adaptation of Anthony Shaffer's acclaimed stage thriller. OK, it remains a little stagey, but it's a twisting treat as Shaffer twists the traditional country house murder mystery into a class war showdown. It's a great – if unusual – cast, and Shaffer is the man who wrote The Wicker Man (the original, that is).

The country estate of the aristocratic Andrew Wyke (Laurence Olivier) is Athelhampton House (although the interior was recreated at Pinewood Studio).

One of England’s finest medieval houses, Athelhampton was built in 1485 on the site of King Athelstan’s palace, and encircled by the River Piddle. It’s about a mile east of Puddletown on the A35 Dorchester-Bournemouth road, and open to the public all year (except Friday and Saturday). In Winter, open only on Sundays (tel: 01305.848363).

There's a proposed remake in the pipeline, adapted by Harold Pinter and directed by Kenneth Branagh, with Michael Caine stepping up to the Olivier role and the other Alfie, Jude Law, as the jumped-up pantry boy.