City proves heavenly setting for an angelic drama

The heavenly messengers have joined the Roman soldiers, who are said to walk the cellars of Treasurer’s House, and Mad Alice who haunts a city centre alleyway, and will be making their presence felt for the next few weeks as part of filming for a new television series .

Eternal Law, written by Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham, the brains behind Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes, is billed as a new take on the usual courtroom drama, with at least three of the lawyers hiding angel wings beneath their robes, though only two are working on the side of good.

The drama focuses on the story of two lawyers, who are in fact angels sent to earth to both help a community and try to understand the human condition.

The six-part series, which will go out on ITV next year, stars Sam West, son of the actors Prunella Scales and Timothy West, as Zak Gist, Ukweli Roach as angel newcomer Tom Greening, Tobias Menzies, who played Brutus in the television series Rome, as dark angel Richard Pembroke, and Orla Brady, who most will recognise as Siobhan from Mistresses, along with Hattie Morahan, who starred in Sense and Sensibility and Lark Rise to Candleford.

While York has previously been seen on the small screen in the likes of Heartbeat, it is believed it is the first time the city has been chosen as a backdrop to a major drama in recent years.

“We first started talking about the project with Matthew and Ashley two years ago.

“Whenever they come to us with an idea we know it will have a sprinkling of magic and we needed to find a location which would match up to the script,” says Kudos Film and Television’s executive producer Alison Jackson.

“We wanted to find a city that would give a fresh view of contemporary Britain.

“We needed somewhere which was big enough to give us all the different backdrops we needed, but which would also conjure the right atmosphere of magic and mystery.

“I had been to York Minster as a child and when we came to have a look around, straight away all of us knew we had found our destination.”

The cast and crew have taken over the former Purey Cust Nuffield Hospital just a short stroll from the Minster as a production base, having applied for council permission to use the building which has stood empty since 2006.

Rooms in the hospital have already been turned into the barristers’ chambers and flats and with filming taking place outside Betty’s Cafe Tea Rooms and along the River Ouse, the city’s residents and tourists are now getting used to sharing the streets with the television cameras.

“Normally a location shoot is massive circus,” says Alison. “Typically you’re based in trailers beside a ring road and spend an awful lot of time ferrying actors back and forth from the set. In York we’ve been blessed, being able to walk to the various different locations is a real luxury.

“The city is going to look absolutely extraordinary on film and I hope it will give viewers a real sense of the geography of the place.

“York is the second most visited city in the country and even people who have never visited have an image in their mind of what it looks like. However, one thing were are keen to do is show that it’s not just a chocolate box city of quaint historic buildings.

“Admittedly, it’s not the Bronx, but through the drama we hope to show another side of the city.”

Many of the 60-strong crew have been sourced locally, but for many of the actors it’s their first taste of filming in the North of England. Judging by their experiences they are hoping it won’t be their last.

“I’m having a ball,” says Orla Brady, who plays Mrs Sherringham, a character who we’re told has a few skeletons in her cupboard.

Originally from Ireland, Orla has live in Los Angeles for the last 10 years and while York might not be blessed with Californian weather, it has other perks.

“The second-hand shops here are just great and I have become a big fan of the hardware store Barnitts. It sells everything including the kitchen sink. I now go whenever I can with a list of items just to see if there is anything they don’t sell.

“The other day I was in there and realised I was stood at the wrong side of the counter.

“When one of the old boys came to serve me I apologised and asked whether I should move round. He just looked at me, smiled and said, ‘No dear, not if you don’t want to’. Absolutely fantastic, you wouldn’t get that in London.”