Been there, scene that ...Trail puts county on movie map

ONE of Bradford City of Film's biggest achievements has been to set up the Bradford Movie Trail – a map which helps visitors explore places of importance in the area's movie history.

The project is supported by tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire, which is trying to increase tourism in Bradford on the back of the City of Film label.

The trail pinpoints locations for films such as The Railway Children, Billy Liar and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.

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It shows how The Railway Children, directed by Lionel Jeffries, was shot on location at Oakworth station near Keighley in 1969 using steam locomotives running on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.

Bradford was a backdrop for the 1960s comedy Billy Liar, with the Victoria Hotel, war memorial and Victoria Square used as locations. A scene from The Meaning of Life was shot in the city's Lister Park.

Room at the Top, a tale of sex and lust from 1959, was nominated for six Oscars and filmed in City Hall, Ivegate, Kirkgate and Westgate.

In television drama, many hospital ward scenes from ITV's The Royal were shot in the now-disused maternity wing of St Luke's Hospital, and the city's former central police station was used by the BBC for Spooks.

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Long-running soap Emmerdale – Emmerdale Farm until 1989 – was filmed in Esholt village, near Shipley, from 1976 to 1998, when a new set was built on the Harewood Estate near Leeds.

"There have been on-going discussions with Welcome to Yorkshire about the potential to develop film and TV tourism across Yorkshire – but with Bradford very much at the heart of that, based on the Movie Trail map," said City of Film director Peg Alexander.