There are two great games to be played when watching an episode of Vera: trying to identify the killer (almost impossible), and working out where in the North East is being used as the backdrop to this week’s grisly murder.
Has that body been found on the beach at Seaton Sluice, or is it Newbiggin? Watch as Vera drives her battered Land Rover across some Northumberland B-road you just can’t place and then arrest a wrong’un at less-than-salubrious housing estate somewhere on Tyneside.
But the adventures of DCI Stanhope are not the only place where the North East can be seen on screen these days, with programmes like Channel 4 documentary Geordie Hospital and the BBC’s Angels of the North and Ambulance putting the North East on a national platform.
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That surge in coverage for the North East has come as two of the country’s main broadcasters have consciously aimed to focus less on London and portray lives in regions like the North East. Last year the BBC announced a £25m investment in the North East while Channel 4 set up a headquarters in Leeds, promising work for production companies and freelance TV workers around the North.
Now the body that represented the region’s film industry - Northern Film + Media - has relaunched under the new name of North East Screen, with a mission to meet the challenge of the potential increasing activity by creating new partnerships and creating vibrant industry sector communities.
Its ambitious aim is to make the North East “the place to create excellence in the world of TV and film.” and last week local authority leaders came together with representatives of the TV and film industries to mark the organisation’s re-launch.
Alison Gwynn, North East Screen’s chief executive, said: “With a new name and ambition for growing the sector, real investment and broadcaster partners, we are strongly putting the message out that the North East is open for business. We have the skills, the passion and the knowledge, not to mention the incredible locations.
“By increasing our networks and connecting people, skills and companies we want to provide a pathway for regional talent, to encourage companies to set up in the beautiful North East and to say to any native North Easterners working in the industry elsewhere in the UK to come back home.
“The unique partnership created last year by the BBC with all 12 local authorities and three combined authorities across the North East region will help us achieve our vision. We will be delivering a programme of events and skills activity to provide a pathway for students, to attract visiting productions, to keep industry talent in the region and increase the visibility of the region nationally and internationally. By working together we hope to strengthen our position to attract the very best of TV and Film production and talent.”
The BBC’s £25m investment into the North East - its largest in decades - will see it make more programmes in the region, support independent production companies and create new jobs. The broadcaster also signed an agreement with the 12 councils in the North East to work more closely to invest in the region’s production industry, creating the North East Screen Industries Partnership.
The partnership will invest £11.4m over five years to deliver a new Screen Industries Development Programme that aims to develop, attract, and retain talent in the sector as well as providing good quality, well paid jobs within the industry. As part of the scheme, North East Screen will create more opportunities to develop the skills that the sector needs to grow.
Thomas Wrathmell, director of the BBC’s Across the UK Strategy, said: “The response since making the huge commitment last year has been incredible and showcases the appetite for making this region a significant centre for the creative industries.
“We’re already delivering on our promise, with six new commissions in the area, investment in skills, production companies and trainee production placements on shows being filmed in the North East and hosting the BBC Comedy Festival in Newcastle last month. We are delighted to see others from across the creative sector investing across the North East and look forward to working together to power the sustainable growth of the sector.”
Amid all the positivity, there are two substantial clouds hanging over the BBC and Channel 4 that could hold back their operations in the North East..
Earlier this year, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries announced that the BBC licence fee would be frozen for two years (and signalled that she wanted it to eventually be scrapped). The announcement led the BBC to recently announce 1,000 jobs cuts and reductions in output on certain channels.
Meanwhile, Government plans to privatise Channel 4 have horrified many in the industry. The broadcaster has warned privatisation could have a “major impact” on Britain’s TV landscape, with no guarantee that a new owner would be required to keep its regional presence in the North.
Despite those threats, however, North East Screen chairman Tom Gutteridge remains optimistic.
“What’s happening is not terribly helpful,” he said, “given the massive investment that the BBC and others are currently committing to make in the region.
“The good news is that, whoever owns Channel 4, and whatever budgets the BBC has to invest in its programming, neither broadcaster will find more creativity, innate talent and good value anywhere else in the UK.”
