Exclusive: Region plays role in new TV drama about lives and loves of six thirty-somethings

"It's going to be compared to Cold Feet or Friends, but we don't mind that. We really feel like it's going to be as successful as those shows," says one of its stars, Lucy Davis.

The new six-part drama from ITV, Married, Single, Other, hopes to stand out from the crowd – and everyone involved is confident it will.

Its first episode will be screened on Monday, February 22, and the series was filmed in and around Leeds last year.

In an exclusive set visit to the studios in Wellington Street last year, the six main cast members were convinced the show is going to be the next big thing.

Lucy Davis says that having been involved in one major success, The Office, she is confident in predicting Married, Single, Other, which is based around the intertwining lives of three couples, is going to be equally popular.

Davis, who now lives in LA, said: "I've been looking for something to do here in England for a while. I've done a few pilots in LA, but I really wanted to come back and do something here, it was a question of finding the right thing.

"Fortunately the cast has all got on really well, we've got really close, and I love it in Leeds. I think that's important because we all are pretty convinced that we'll be in Leeds quite a bit over the next few years, filming this."

Leeds landmarks abound in the series, which was filmed in locations including the Victoria Quarter, Clarence Dock, Kirkstall Abbey, Millennium Square, Hanover Square and Roundhay Park. Interiors were shot at Studio 81 on Kirkstall Road, where Left Bank Pictures based their production offices.

Screen Yorkshire provided 250,000 funding for the production to help convince producers Left Bank to film the series in Yorkshire.

Another cast member, Dean Lennox Kelly, said: "I haven't had this feeling since I did Shameless. You do a job and you don't know how it's going to turn out, but in this the casting has been great, there has been a genuine bond develop between the six of us and I think people will see that on the screen."

Andy Harries, executive producer of the show, who also worked on The Damned United, The Queen and Cold Feet, says he and the cast are "already looking forward to returning for the second series".

Hugo Heppell, head of production at Screen Yorkshire said: "Married, Single, Other is an exceptional series, portraying contemporary Leeds as brilliantly as The Damned United did the 70s. To have vibrant, powerful drama such as this rooted in Yorkshire is just as important as the massive economic benefit in terms of jobs and inward investment that such a series brings to the region."

Royle Family star Ralf Little said he had enjoyed his 12 weeks in Leeds. "The city seems really cool and cosmopolitan. It pains me to say it, because I'm from Manchester, but it's been a lot of fun in Leeds and I think we're all looking forward to coming back and doing more of this."

Meet three couples...

Married: Babs realises her marriage to Dickie is in trouble. He has an ability for spending her wage on useless get-rich-quick schemes. Babs is played by actor and comedian Amanda Abbington. Dickie is played by Dean Lennox Kelly, most famous for his role as Kev Ball in Shameless.

Single: Dickie's brother Clint has never dated the same girl twice, until he meets model Abbey, who turns his world upside down. Clint is played by The Royle Family's Ralf Little. Abbey is played by Miranda Raison, who played Jo in Spooks.

Other: Childhood sweethearts Lillie and Eddie have been together for 16 years but Lillie refuses to marry Eddie, claiming she loves him too much. Lucy Davis plays Lillie. Since The Office, she has also appeared in Ugly Betty. Eddie is played by Barnsley's Shaun Dooley, who was recently seen in Red Riding.