
The East of England Streaming
October 2024
Find out which East-based film and TV series are eating up the most of your broadband
1980s drama LOVEJOY is revealed to consume more than 200 Gigabytes of data
West Suffolk-based 80s drama Lovejoy is the East of England’s most data-consuming series, with a staggering 213GB needed to watch the 71 hours of screentime
The new research from broadband provider LightSpeed has revealed which of the region’s towns and cities proudest TV and film moments are gobbling up the most internet data as a result
Netflix’s The Crown follows with 180GB needed to stream the hit series, with scenes filmed at Ely Cathedral
Spencer, Wonka and The Theory of Everything are among the movies filmed in the East that require the least data to stream at just 6GB

1980s TV drama Lovejoy is the East of England’s most data-draining series, as the amount of data you needed to stream the greatest TV and movies filmed in the East of England has been revealed by broadband provider LightSpeed.
The research follows findings that East England screen stans spend an average of nearly four hours per day – or 60 days a YEAR – watching TV and films.
Looking at some of the biggest on-screen hits either featuring or filmed largely in the region, LightSpeed ranked which ones eat up the most data based on typical HD streaming, using 3GB of data per hour of screentime.
No. | Location filmed | TV/ Movie | Length | GB needed |
1 | West Suffolk | Lovejoy (1986) | 71h | 213GB |
2 | Ely, Cambridgeshire | The Crown (2016-23) | 60h | 180GB |
3 | Ipswich/ Akenham, Suffolk | Downton Abbey (2010-15) | 56h | 168GB |
4 | Bawdsey, Suffolk | The Grand Tour (2016 -present) | 54h | 162Gb |
5 | Thetford, Honington and Bardwell, Norfolk | Dad's Army (1968-77) | 40h | 120GB |
6 | Lavenham, Suffolk | Harry Potter (2001–11) (Godric's Hollow) | 19h 39m | 60GB |
7 | Framlingham, Suffolk | Detectorists (2014-22) | 10.5h | 32GB |
8 | Norwich, Norfolk | The Avengers (2012) | 10h | 30GB |
9 | Diss, Norfolk | Masters of the Air (2024) | 9h | 27GB |
10 | Norwich, Norfolk | I'm Alan Partridge (1997-2002) | 6h | 18GB |
11 | Salisbury Arms Hotel, Hertford | A Very English Scandal (2018) | 3h | 9GB |
12 | Bedford, Bedfordshire | The Dark Knight (2008) | 2h 32m | 7GB |
13 | Southend, Essex | Wonder Woman (2017) | 2h 21m | 7GB |
14 | Brentwood, Essex | Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018) | 2h 30m | 7GB |
15 | St Albans, Hertfordshire | Wonka (2023) | 2h | 6GB |
16 | Luton, Bedfordshire | Blinded by the Light (2019) | 2h | 6GB |
17 | Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk | The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) | 2h | 6GB |
18 | Cambridge, Cambridgeshire | The Theory of Everything (2014) | 2h | 6GB |
19 | Hunstanton, Norfolk | Spencer (2021) | 2h | 6GB |
What’s the impact on my internet?
Buffering is – albeit a first world problem – infuriating for most internet users. To stop it happening, it’s crucial that your Wi-Fi is capable of handling multiple devices accessing the connection at the same time (in other words, bandwidth) at a high speed (for example, speeds over 1,000 Megabits per second – or 1 Gigabit per second – is on offer in much of the East of England, and some of the fastest available in the country). Every device – whether phone, TV, or laptop – will impact your bandwidth, so the faster your speeds, the better to prevent buffering.
For residents based in West Suffolk wanting to watch the area’s 1980s drama Lovejoy and revisit Ian McShane’s antique dealer character, the series will use a whopping 213GB of data with 71 hours of screentime to binge – the highest data usage from all the TV shows and movies analysed.
Behind the series is The Crown, at 180GB, which featured Cambridgeshire’s Ely cathedral in the first series of the royal drama. Used as a stand-in for Westminster Abbey, viewers can spot the location in the very first episode as a young Princess Elizabeth marries Prince Philip.
In third is another beloved period drama of Downton Abbey of which battlefield scenes in the second series were filmed in Arkham in Ipswich. For Suffolk residents wanting to catch up with the Crawleys and their staff, you’ll eat up 168GB of data.

Using just 6GB of data, residents in the region can watch the 2021 Princess Diana biopic Spencer filmed in Hunstanton, Norfolk or Eddie Redmayne’s performance in The Theory of Everything asProfessor Stephen Hawking, which features Trinity College in Cambridge.
Commenting on the findings, LightSpeed CEO Brett Shepherd said: “The demand for high-quality streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video continues to surge.
“In rural areas, streaming can be slow, difficult and in some cases almost impossible. When streaming in HD, this can interfere with speed and bandwidth of a broadband connection.
“Despite frustrations with a TV show or movie deciding to buffer during a tense moment, the good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Most households in the East of England can now explore Gigabit broadband options – with speeds exceeding 1,000 Megabits per second (Mbps) – to enjoy streaming TV and movie moments without interruption.”