Yorkshire plays starring role in ITV’s Victoria

A HOST of Yorkshire’s finest stately homes will be taking the spotlight in the series Victoria when it takes the prime Sunday night slot on ITV this weekend.

The eight-part drama, which covers the early life of the monarch from her accession to the throne aged just 18 through to her marriage to Prince Albert is shot extensively at locations across Yorkshire, with many places doubling for iconic London landmarks such as Buckingham Palace (Harewood  House, Bramham Park, Wentworth Woodhouse, Newby Hall), the House of Lords (York Guildhall and York Minster School), Kensington Palace (Castle Howard, Newby Hall,  Bramham Park, Wentworth Woodhouse) and Windsor Castle (Carlton Towers).

Victoria also filmed at Whitby Harbour, York Guildhall and Beverley Minster, which doubled as Westminster Abbey, while the central Buckingham Palace set where much of the seven-month shoot took place was created by production designer Michael Howells at Screen Yorkshire’s new Church Fenton Studios near Leeds.

Supervising location manager Jim Allan said: “The streets of both York and Whitby along with the Stately Homes of Yorkshire looked fantastic and were ideal for Victoria, also nothing was too much trouble. With the on-going help of local councils, owners and staff, plus the bonus of guidance from Creative England we achieved all our goals on schedule. Yorkshire has great locations and a ‘can-do’ attitude.”

Kaye Elliott, head of production services at Creative England, said: “It’s fantastic for Yorkshire’s world class locations to be taking centre stage once again in this new prime-time drama for ITV. The quality of this production is another illustration of how Yorkshire has the skilled crews and facilities to make world class television and now a new large scale studio facility, which is sure to bring further productions to the North.”

Creative England’s production liaison manager for Yorkshire, Chris Hordley, was on hand from the outset to assist with sourcing locations and permissions for the production.

He put forward location suggestions to help secure the project for the region, and supported the initial producer site meeting with Victoria producer Paul Frift at Church Fenton Studios, which is managed by Screen Yorkshire.

Creative England also supported the production to source regional crew and businesses to work on the drama once filming was confirmed to secure local jobs.

Sally Joynson, chief executive at Screen Yorkshire, said: “Adding the Church Fenton Studios to Screen Yorkshire’s portfolio means that for the first time we are able to attract large scale projects like Victoria to the region.  Finding the right locations and a studio big enough to build the main Buckingham Palace set was a key priority for Mammoth Screen, who spent seven months filming in the region, generating work and income for local crew, location owners and the wider supply chain. It marks a major sea change for the film and TV industry in Yorkshire and we are excited about the further opportunities Church Fenton Studios will bring as we embark on phase two of development at the site.”

Film and television production is a driver of economic growth in the English regional economies. Films can spend up to £35,000 per day on employing local crew and services from hotels, restaurants and taxis to security firms and caterers.

A TV drama can have a daily on location spend of up to £20,000. In addition to the immediate investment there is the added boost to tourism when a location is featured on screen.

According to figures from Creative England and research specialist OlsbergSPI in association with VisitEngland, international screen tourists brought between £100m and £140m to the economy in 2014 with the most popular locations attracting up to £1.6m a year from international tourists.