On location in Bradford

Bradford UNESCO City of Film Director, David Wilson assesses Bradford as a film location.

Bradford has been used as a film location since the invention of film and boasted nine film production studios in the early 1900’s.

Bradford’s natural geography automatically makes it filmic. The fact that the city centre is in a natural bowl surrounded by sweeping hills peppered with villages and towns, lends itself to a scenic backdrop.

Thousands of listed buildings in the city centre alone, are a lasting legacy of the might of the textile industry and the city’s forefathers who had and eye for grand designs. One only has to take a brief tour of City Hall to see that these people had a real pride and ambition and wanted to make a statement for generations to come. The Victorian court room within City Hall is beautifully preserved and almost exclusively use as a film location these days. Add to this the predominant use of Yorkshire stone which positively glows in the late afternoon sun, and you have something that would very hard to replicate in a film studio setting.

Another attraction for film makers is that Bradford, unlike many other cities, has not been over developed. You can still wonder down certain streets and loose yourself in a by gone era. Take the area known as Little Germany as just one example of a post industrial setting that could double for many places around Europe and even the US. In the film “Wall of Tyranny”, Peckover Street in Little Germany doubled as Check Point Charlie.

 

Jonathan Davies was Location Manager for the feature film The Selfish Giant which was filmed in and around Bradford in late 2012 with assistance from Bradford City of Film. Jonathan said “Bradford and it’s surrounding area presents a rich seam of hitherto untapped locations. With the full support of council leaders there is really no reason why the region should not be as busy a production hub as Manchester or Liverpool. From personal experience these two aspects must coordinate to make a production a success and then want production companies to return in the future.” The Selfish Giant will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May this year.

 

Bradford’s new City Park has already featured in a number of TV productions within the first year of opening (DCI Banks, The Syndicate) and is surely destined for more film appearances, with the grand backdrop of City Hall.

 

Ben Hepworth of Prime Studios was responsible for some of the locations scouting for Kay Mellors, The Syndicate and said; Bradford has some great locations and many within quite close proximity which can be really useful when you are working on a tight schedule. For Syndicate 2 we used areas like Little Germany, City Park, Undercliffe and Bradford College as some of the Bradford locations. By having the UNESCO designation as a Film City I think people expect to see more productions in and around the City. With more productions comes a better understanding of the prodcution process and that is also apparent in Bradford.

 

As this column goes to print, World Productions will start filming the second of two films for BBC1 telling the story of The Great Train Robbery. Location Manager Joel Holmes has spent much of his career making films and TV in London and recently worked on ITV’s popular serial Broadchurch.  He is enjoying his time in West Yorkshire and said: “Working is the region has been a refreshing change from London and the South East.  People here are very amenable to filming and greet the prospect with a high level of enthusiasm.  We have been made to feel very welcome in the Bradford district, where our locations have included the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, the Oastler Shopping Centre and the enchanting Peel Park.  The area certainly has to a lot to offer in terms of the quality of the locations (both period and contemporary) combined with a film friendly attitude.  I will look forward to working here again in the future and will recommend to other productions.

Bradford UNESCO City of Film has plans to re launch the Bradford Film Office in the Autumn of 2013 to ensure than the city is in an even better position to respond to film and television production requests.