With series like Russian Doll and Homeland being partially filmed in Budapest, it’s no surprise that more recent shows that center on international crime have alighted upon our shores to take advantage of the favourable filming conditions and spectacular locations. One of the more recent is the American series FBI International, which is currently in its third season.

The premise, according to Wikipedia, is as follows: “The series follows members of the FBI's international "Fly Team", elite Special Agents headquartered in Budapest who locate and neutralize threats against American interests around the world principally in Europe.” The series follows the increasing trend of Budapest being used as a location in its own right, and not as a stand-in for another European city (as seen in Homeland, for instance).

In its time here, the show has taken full advantage of historically great locations, and found a few new ones as well. From Budapest’s Fisherman’s Bastion (see clip below) to the Chain Bridge and Liberty Bridge, to the Great Market Hall and ‘distant’ places like historic downtown Szkésfehérvár, a small city southwest of Budapest, and Szeged, a city near the Serbian border.

While many of the plotlines focus on kidnappings, bombings and espionage that take place in Budapest — Poland, Czech Republic, and other European cities like Paris are also featured.

This comes at a time when Hungary is seeing historic rises in revenue from the film industry. As reported in local film news source Budapest Reporter: “The Hungarian film industry’s revenues are at an all-time high, exceeding HUF 250 billion, a 20% increase compared to last year, according to Csaba Káel, government commissioner for the advancement of the Hungarian film industry and chairman of the board of the National Film Institute.

“Budapest has recently become Europe‘s biggest film production base after London, with top producers shooting with the world’s biggest stars. The same professionals who worked with Ridley Scott, for example, are available for Hungarian productions,” said Káel in an interview with Hungarian news outlet Origo.”

It doesn’t take an international investigation to conclude that filming in Budapest and Hungary just makes good sense.

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