Numerous locations on Malta, Gozo and Comino have appeared in Film and TV productions throughout the years. Here are just a few of the places that you can visit to find out why the camera loves them – including natural landmarks, architectural treasures and Malta’s very own film studios.

	ĊITTADELLA This late medieval, hilltop citadel, which encloses a number of historic buildings and offers an unforgettable view of Gozo, has been a popular screen location, most recently for the BBC’s Byron, in which it doubles for a fort in Greece, 1811.
	RAMLA BAY One of Gozo’s most beautiful and peaceful beaches, the golden sands of Ramla Bay were the location for one of the most dramatic moments in the BBC’s biographical drama Byron, for a scene showing the flaming funeral pyre of the poet Shelley
	BLUE LAGOON On Comino are the sheltered, dazzlingly blue waters of this small inlet, which has appeared on screen many times, most recently for a diving scene featuring Madonna in Swept Away and a spearfishing scene set in ancient times for the mini-series Helen of Troy. Boat trips from Gozo and Malta to Comino enable you to take a dip in the lagoon. Also on Comino is St Mary’s Tower, which is featured in The Count of Monte Cristo.
	FORT ST ELMO (VALLETTA) Now home to the Malta Police Academy, parts of this 16th-century fort on the tip of the Valletta peninsula have appeared in two swashbuckling adventure movies, Cutthroat Island and The Count of Monte Cristo (doubling for Marseille), as well as the forthcoming 1960s espionage drama A Different Loyalty, in which the fort doubled for a Beirut street market, and Midnight Express, which used the fort’s disused barracks to represent a Turkish prison.
	MDINA Malta’s former capital, a fortified hilltop city some of whose buildings date from the 12th century, had a cameo role in The Count of Monte Cristo. The square and side streets around St Paul’s Cathedral were used for a carnival scene set in Rome, in which the hero, Dantès, fakes the kidnapping of his son. Mdina also appeared in Cutthroat Island and the TV opera film The Death of Klinghoffer. A walk around the winding streets used by the Monte Cristo film crew is highly recommended, finishing at the fortifications on Bastion Square, which give you a stunning panoramic view of Malta.
	MEDITERRANEAN FILM STUDIOS Since they opened in 1963, Mediterranean Film Studios (MFS) has hosted dozens of feature films, TV dramas, mini-series, commercials and music videos, almost all of them featuring action set on water. Situated at Rinella on the eastern coast, the two main water tanks have a clear horizon behind them, allowing directors to film in a controlled environment and create the illusion that the on-screen characters are miles out to sea. You may well have seen that illusion in one or more of MFS’s recent credits, including Cutthroat Island, Pinocchio, Swept Away, U-571 and White Squall.
	PALAZZO PARISIO (NAXXAR) This opulent 19th-century stately home in Naxxar is rapidly becoming one of the island’s most in-demand and versatile film and television locations. In the last two years it has doubled on screen for two French chateaux in The Count of Monte Cristo, an Italian villa and a palazzo in the BBC drama Byron and a Genoa hotel in Daniel Deronda.
	XATT IR-RISQ (VITTORIOSA) This long, straight stretch of waterfront on the western side of Vittoriosa has been used for contemporary and period movies in search of unspoiled harbourside locations, including Cutthroat Island (for an explosive chase sequence), The Count of Monte Cristo, Swept Away and the BBC TV drama Daniel Deronda, in which Xatt ir-Risq doubled for Genoa in the 1870s.