Action – Jamie Childs’ feature film Jackdaw was shot in Hartlepool. Pic: Anton Corp.
PIONEERS
OF TV AND FILM
Why Tees Valley is top of the tree for screen creatives
WORDS: SARAH WALKER
Experience – NE Screen Crew Academy trainee Isabella Dinsdale on the set of Transaction. Pic: North East Screen.
The Tees Valley is enjoying a flourishing reputation as a welcoming and inclusive home for TV and film professionals, both in front of and behind the camera.
Thanks to high-profile productions such as the BBC’ s Smoggie Queens, ITV’ s I Fought the Law and Transaction and Jamie Childs’ feature film Jackdaw, plus at least 10 more significant filming projects in the region, the Tees Valley is becoming renowned as a TV and film production powerhouse.
It’ s been a rapid rise to fame, following the 2022 opening of The Northern Studios – the only large-scale film and TV studio facility in the North-East – next to the Northern School of Art in Hartlepool.
Expansion plans for the surrounding area will see Lynn Street and Whitby Street transformed into Hartlepool Production Village, which will include studios, workshops and support facilities from offices through to storage areas for props and equipment.
In its latest report " Three Years of Big Impacts ", North East Screen, North-East England’ s screen industries development agency, highlights there has been a 131 % increase in production spend across the region, with £ 2.37m invested in 10 productions via the North East Production Fund( NEPF).
Production spend in the region totalled £ 55m between 2022 and 2025 and there has been a 90 % increase in filming days and 120,000 days’ work on production. Registered supply chain companies have also increased threefold.
This has all been made possible by supporting roles from the BBC and the Tees Valley Combined Authority( TVCA).
The BBC committed £ 25m to fund network TV production and talent development across the North-East, while £ 11.4m has come from the North East Screen Industries Partnership( NESIP), backed by a £ 4.5m investment from TVCA.
A £ 16.5m Levelling Up fund awarded to Hartlepool Borough Council is supporting the Production Village and the expansion of the Northern Studios and with the Tees Valley securing Investment Zone status, £ 160m has been unlocked to drive growth in creative and digital sectors in Hartlepool and Middlesbrough.
But although the numbers and their potential to attract TV and film companies to the region are important, what really sets the Tees Valley apart is the welcoming and resourceful approach from everyone who works in TV and film in the region.
Jo MacLeod, marketing and communications manager at North East Screen, says:“ I’ m from the south and now I live in the North-East. I would never want to move back.
“ I think that’ s testament to the welcoming feel you get from here.
“ For people who are from the region, there’ s always the pull of wanting to come back home and having the industry being so vibrant up here now is enabling people to do that.”
Directors and producers benefit from a wide range of support when working with North East Screen.
“ Our Film Office is the one front door to the industry, helping source locations and getting filming permissions and permits through our local authority filming-friendly network,” adds operations director Gayle Woodruffe.
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