The Yellow House - A Light in the Darkness

The Yellow House in Chris Carter's Millennium tv series holds a special, warm place in the hearts of Millennium fans worldwide, just like the mythical Ouroborus symbol and Frank's red Cherokee Jeep. The Yellow House was a symbol of warmth, hope and happiness in criminal profiler Frank Black's often grim and perpetual dark world.

Chris Carter, creator of Millennium and previously of course The X-Files, commented on the Yellow House as part of the Pilot episode DVD Commentary:
“The idea of the yellow house was that you can try to paint away the darkness, that you can create an environment where you can try to deny that which you know to be real and true and frightening about the world.”

Recommended: Clicking on an image will open it as part of a slideshow gallery, where you can easily move between images or close the slideshow.

Robert McLachlan Asc Csc, respected Director of Photography throughout all three seasons of Millennium, developed special lighting and photographic techniques for the series. As Frank would travel further away from his family home to visit horrific crime scenes and profile cases for law enforcement agenices and the FBI, the colour overtones of the scenes would darken and become more grainy in texture. However in contrast the scenes involving the Yellow House were brightly lit and often saturated with colour depicting the warmth and love Frank found in his family. The Yellow House has forever become a cherished monument with the show's legion of fans, even becoming a place of homage for one lucky fan in 2006 which you can read more about here.

Sadly the Yellow House which also held a special place in the hearts of characters Frank, Catherine and Jordan Black, was not free of the occasional dark influence of evil including the basement murder of Frank's friend Lt. Bob Bletcher.

Comparison image of the original and regular Yellow House.

The Yellow House as originally seen in Millennium's Pilot and The X-Files episode, Deep Throat.

By the time Millennium's second episode Gehenna was to be produced, the local residents had decided (with good reason) they didn't want their lives disrupted by the regular presence of film crews, cast, the equipment and vehicles that went with producing a television series. A replacement for the Yellow House was needed and so filming switched to a similar house that had been used in the second ever episode of The X-Files entitled Deep Throat.

Series Creator Chris Carter says: “This yellow house which we spent a lot of time making into the sort of perfect house - we re-shingled the house, we painted it a particular color of yellow. When we went to start the series after the pilot had been picked up, we were no longer able to shoot at the house. It was a very expensive set to lose. I think the biggest beneficiary was the family that lived there who basically had a remodeled house.”

Presented below are 24 images of Frank Black's Yellow House from the Millennium television series. Simply click on an image to view it full size and as part of a slideshow gallery.