The region has a rich history for both the big screen and television, as directors have exploited the hugely varied locations for film shoots ranging from acclaimed children's movies to chilling horror flicks.

Now, a television documentary series has been produced that visits locations throughout Yorkshire and the North-East which have been immortalised in celluloid as backdrops to great actors .

But, the programme makers haven't had their lenses focussed entirely on the past. They examine the region's growing reputation in the lucrative Bollywood industry after the International Indian Film Academy awards were held in Yorkshire last summer.

Since then, Allerton Castle has been featured as the location for 1920, a movie made by leading Bollywood director Vikram Bhatt.

The series also visits Whitby, which was the setting of the BBC's Count Dracula in 1977, and the North Yorkshire village of Kettlewell which was re-named Knapely for the blockbuster movie Calendar Girls.

The programmes also take in Harrogate, as the spa town was the setting for the 1979 film Agatha, which starred Vanessa Redgrave and Dustin Hoffman in unravelling the mysterious disappearance of the world's best-known crime writer, Agatha Christie, in 1926.

After a nationwide search, the author was found at the Swan Hydro – now the Old Swan Hotel – in Harrogate.

Further afield, a series of venues in the north-east used in one of the greatest British gangster films of all time – Get Carter starring Michael Caine – is also featured.

The 10-part series, which begins tomorrow, is being fronted by actor John Middleton, who plays vicar Ashley Thomas in the ITV soap Emmerdale.

Exteriors for the long-running series were initially filmed in the Dales village of Arncliffe and then Esholt in West Yorkshire before a dedicated set was built on the Harewood estate.

This series is the first presenting role for Yorkshire-born Mr Middleton, who admitted that the work had given him the chance to delve deeper into the history of his home county.

He said: "The Yorkshire region really does have everything on offer – whether it is spectacular scenery or stunning coastlines, through to grittier inner city locations in places like Leeds and Bradford.

"There are endless opportunities for film directors, and it has been fascinating having the chance to find out more about the locations which have been used.

"People might not realise it, but there is an awful lot of film and television history literally on their doorsteps throughout Yorkshire."

The series also highlights Yorkshire's impressive stately homes which, perhaps unsurprisingly, been selected for many movies and TV dramas.

A film crew returned to Castle Howard last year to shoot a cinema version of Brideshead Revisited that is due for release in October. The hugely successful TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's classic novel shot there in 1980 was acclaimed by audiences around the world.

Newby Hall near Ripon was recently used as the setting for the period drama Mansfield Park which starred former teenage pop star and Doctor Who actress Billie Piper.

The stunning landscape of the Yorkshire Dales became synonymous with James Herriot, the beloved vet in author Alf Wight's books, after it was used as the location for the BBC's All Creatures Great and Small.

Thousands of fans of the ITV series Heartbeat have travelled to the North Yorkshire Moors village of Goathland to see firsthand that drama's locations.

The series also visits the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway where The Railway Children – perhaps one of the most famous movies shot in the region – was filmed in 1970.

That version of E Nesbit's much-loved children's tale, starring Bernard Cribbins, Jenny Agutter, Sally Thomsett and Dinah Sheridan,was placed 66th in the BFI Top 100 British films of all-time.

The series, called Lights, Camera, Location has been made by Really Good Productions based in Leeds. Episode one is scheduled for broadcast on ITV1 tomorrow at 6pm.