has had the green light for a second
run, with filming scheduled to be up
and running next year. The first run took
in locations including Hebden Bridge
and the Calder Valley.
It’s a wrap in early October on the third
series of Sally Wainwright’s Last Tango
in Halifax, another Red-produced
drama. The show stars Anne Reid and
Derek Jacobi as the childhood lovers
who get together later in life.
The first two series of Last Tango
displayed a wide range of North West
locations – apart from Halifax itself, the
drama has taken in Harrogate, Hoghton
Tower, Holdsworth House, Skipton and
Huddersfield.
Wainwright is also the pen behind
Red’s Scott & Bailey, which recently
finished shooting its fourth series. The
ITV drama - popular internationally as
well - centres on the two eponymous
colleagues with Greater Manchester’s
Major Incident Team, played by
Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp.
Many of the locations are indeed within
the Greater Manchester area, and
include Manchester Crown Court; an
old Barclays branch in Silver Street;
Bury; Oldham and HM Prison Risley in
Warrington. [Continues on page 12]
Several other returning shows
showcase a great portfolio of North
West filming locations:
The fourth series of Left Bank Pictures’
dark drama for ITV, DCI Banks, is
filming in and around the Leeds area
until Christmas. Stephen Tompkinson
stars as the titular ‘tec in the series
which is based on Peter Robinson’s
crime novels.
Darlow Smithson’s The Mill for Channel
4 finished recording series 2 earlier this
year in Manchester and Quarrybank,
Cheshire, while Tiger Aspect’s
Manchester-set Mount Pleasant
wrapped filming on the fourth series
earlier this year.
The second run of BBC One drama The
Village finished filming earlier this year
– across the two series completed so
far, locations used have encompassed
the stunning Derbyshire Peak District
spots of Hayfield, Chapel-en-le-Frith
and Edale.
Safely in the can is series 2 of Peaky
Blinders*, also from Tiger Aspect. The
gritty period drama used locations
including Leeds, Bradford, Keighley,
Manchester, Liverpool and Birkenhead.
Earlier this summer, shooting got
underway in Halifax on the second
series of Hank Zipzer*, the CBBC
comedy drama starring Henry Winkler.
The show is based on the series of
children’s books he co-wrote with Lin
Oliver about a boy growing up with
dyslexia. The 13 x 30 run is from Kindle
Entertainment with DHX Media and
Walker Productions.
Feature films
It’s not just TV choosing the North
West at the moment. The UK has
recently been enjoying a golden time in
filmmaking, with the high end tax relief
contributing to the appeal of shooting
here.
One company taking the UK up on
its offer is River Road Entertainment
which, along with Apaches
Entertainment in Madrid, is behind the
forthcoming Liam Neeson-starrer A
Monster Calls.
The film is a big screen adaptation of
the children’s novel by Patrick Ness
about a boy who, while struggling
to cope with his mother’s terminal
cancer, is visited in the night by a story
telling monster. Felicity Jones is also
attached, with Manchester locations
very much on the cards. Shoot dates
have yet to be tied down, but whenever
this lands, it looks as if it will be a pretty
hefty project.
A pretty starry cast is heading for a
slice of location filming on the Yorkshire
It’s not just TV choosing
the North west at the
moment. The UK has
recently been enjoying a
golden time in filmmaking,
with the high-end tax
relief contributing to the
appeal of shooting here.
Remote locations in Scotland
bring both opportunities as
well as challenges to the crew.
Modern technology does make
working in these locations a lot
more accessible.
Moors for the feature Miss You Already.
Toni Collette and Drew Barrymore
star as two lifelong friends whose
relationship is fractured when one
becomes seriously ill and the other falls
pregnant. Other serious names such as
Dominic Cooper, Paddy Considine and
Jacqueline Bisset are also on board
this Embargo Films project, which is
due to wrap in early November.
And then there are some classics that
make it to the big screen. Arguably
one of English literature’s most loved
children’s books Swallows and
Amazons, is on the development slate
at production hive Harbour Pictures in
conjunction with BBC Films.
The Arthur Ransome novel on which
the film is based was first published
in 1930, and recounts the adventures
of two groups of children in the Lake
District during the summer of 1929.
Dan Stevens is on board to play
Captain Flint in the adaptation which,
with a screenplay by Andrea Gibb, is
currently slated for a 2015 shoot. No
doubt the Lake District will play almost
a big a role as the actors, providing the
breathtaking setting for this much-
loved fictonial tale.
Also lining up a 2015 shoot is feature
film Hunter’s Prayer*, directed by
Jonathan Mostow. The thriller is based
on Kevin Wignall’s novel For The
Dogs, and stars Sam Worthington
as an assassin who fails his task and
is himself hunted across Europe.
Yorkshire provides the locations for the
UK end of things; the shoot will also
take in Hungary.
And to end on a truly international
note, Cinema Paradiso writer-director
Giuseppe Tornatore is heading to these
shores to film The Correspondence,
about a love affair between a young
woman and a professor.
The feature marks the director’s first
venture into filmmaking in the UK: York
and parts of Yorkshire make up the UK
location base along with Edinburgh.
Tornatore will once again be teaming
up with his regular composer and
collaborator Ennio Morricone on the
romantic drama.
So it seems that the North West is set
to maintain and grow its reputation as a
centre of excellence for TV production
and filmmaking, both domestic and
international.
This can only be a good thing in terms
of local employment for crew and
service providers, and we say long may
it last.
* Denotes productions which have funding
from Screen Yorkshire.
• Long-running soap
Emmerdale has a full time
gardener who makes sure
flowers and plants seen
on screen have seasonal
continuity.
• The Yorkshire Content
Fund, managed by Screen
Yorkshire, is the biggest
regional fund in the UK.
• The Yorkshire Content Fund
has £15m of investment
from the European Regional
Development Fund (ERDF).
• Screen Yorkshire’s
investments range from
£200,000 to £1m.
• The Gothic cathedral of
York Minster plays a vital
role – as itself - at the start
of Jonathan Strange & Mr
Norrell, adapted from the
book by Susanna Clarke.
A still from BBC series The Village
- which completed filming on its
second series earlier this year.
The Knowledge
e-guide
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Filming In yorkshire & the north west
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