Here’s the thing that will make you feel like a detective yourself: most of the show isn’t filmed in the fictional “AC-12” city at all. The real star is Belfast, Northern Ireland. Yep, the show’s creator, Jed Mercurio, decided the streets of Belfast had the perfect “British police procedural” vibe—without the London price tag.
Think about it: every time you see Hastings walking across a windswept car park or a suspect being bundled into a van, you’re looking at Belfast’s industrial zones. The production team loves places like the Titanic Quarter and the old Belfast Harbour Estate. It’s ironic, right? A show about British police corruption is filmed in a city with its own complicated history of policing. Gives the whole thing a little edge, don’t you think?
The One Building You Actually Recognize: AC-12 Headquarters
Let’s talk about that brutalist concrete box where Hastings drinks his terrible tea. That’s the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), located in the Tudor part of Belfast. It looks like a 1970s government filing cabinet exploded into a building—which is exactly the point.
When you see the exterior shots of AC-12, with those unforgiving gray walls and tiny windows, you’re staring at a real archive holding centuries of Irish history. The interior? That’s a set built inside a warehouse in Belfast’s Lanyon Place. So, the tension you feel isn’t just the acting—it’s the vibes of a building literally filled with secrets. (Cheeky, right?)
