St John’s College has earned more than £112,000 by renting out its grounds for movie sets, over ten times the amount cashed in by other colleges.

A Varsity investigation has uncovered a large variation in the amount earned by colleges from commercial filming projects, with St John’s earning by far the most. After receiving information through Freedom of Information requests, Varsity is able to compare the income of 19 different colleges, although several of these reported having had no projects filmed since the start of last year.

John’s earned a total of £112,750 since the start of 2024, with three projects being shot on the college’s grounds in that time.

While the college was not required by the Freedom of Information request to reveal what the projects were, there have been several high-profile projects that have taken place in the college setting in the last year.

Among these is Prime Target, an Apple TV+ series which premiered in January 2025 and follows the adventures of a fictional Cambridge Maths student who becomes entangled in an international espionage plot.

According to the college’s Instagram account, principal filming for the series took place in August 2023, outside the period investigated, but shooting returned for additional scenes in 2024. The show’s trailer opens with an aerial shot of the city, before showing clips of star Leo Woodall walking through St John’s College’s First Court, and cycling through its gardens.

The college’s accounts for the 2023-2024 financial year, the most recent that are publicly available, made note of the high amount earned by the college, describing it as one of the “most significant factors” in the college’s income increasing from £47.1 million in 2023 to £53.5 million in 2024.

While the college’s post about its role in Prime Target did mention that some students “were lucky enough to get jobs on set,” a John’s student said: I’ve never been stopped by filming; the College seems to do it primarily out of term time, which means that I’m neither interrupted nor have the opportunity to have a cameo in some random TV show.”

The student continued: “If it is raising money for the college, I see no issue with it. Particularly since the dean seems very careful to ensure there are no issues with students.

“Universities and Colleges are in the depths of a financial crisis. St John’s, being one of the most beautiful colleges, should get more money and support when there are scant options for further funding.”

The college’s earnings stand in sharp relief to those declared by other colleges in the same period, few of which breached five figures.

The second college declaring the second-highest income was Queens’, who declared an income of £10,000 from eight different commercial projects.

Queens’ featured significantly in the BBC drama Ludwig, starring Peterhouse alumnus David Mitchell. Alongside Queens’, filming took place once again at Johns, as well as at the University Library.

A second series has already been commissioned of the show, with filming taking place on Trinity Lane and All Saints’ Passage.

While Queens’ made the second-highest formal declaration of income, it is likely that Jesus received more from commercial filming projects.

In response to the request for information, the college stated that there had been “two occasions since January 2024 when the College has been used as a location for a major TV/Film production,” without specifying a specific fee received.

However, the college’s filming policy states that fees for large-scale filming projects start at a minimum of £6,500 per day, meaning that it will have earned at least £13,000 from the two projects to have taken place.

Among the colleges that declined to reveal their income from filming was Selwyn, although the college did confirm that 6 projects had taken place on its grounds. Among these is After the Hunt, which premiered in October and stars Julia Roberts as professor at Yale University.

In Selwyn’s Annual Report, bursar Jennifer Phillips mentioned the “high-profile filming” that took place in the college during the summer of 2024, noting that “after weeks of intensive preparation, the shoot itself lasted only a few hours”.

The majority of the other colleges to respond to the request reported not having received any income from commercial filming, with the exceptions of Trinity Hall, who earned £8,000, and Clare College, who declared £450.

Despite not receiving any income from filming, Sidney Sussex revealed that permission had been granted for 11 events to film in the college, more than any other college.

Filming at the University of Cambridge is nothing new, with both University and Colleges having being repeatedly featured in film and TV for decades. Perhaps most famously, The Theory of Everything, for which star Eddie Redmayne won an Academy Award, was shot largely at St John’s, as it traced the life of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.

Meanwhile, in the 1980s, Maurice was shot in King’s College, based on the E.M. Forster book of the same name. The film won three awards at the Venice Film Festival, and was nominated for an Oscar.