10.13130/2036-461X/16390
The purpose of this essay is to investigate the role played by regional film agencies in the new Millenium production of TV crime drama in the UK by looking in particular at the portfolio of Screen Yorkshire. The recent development of production hubs and the global competition for studio spaces, location, and facilities, led to increased importance of regional settings and support for the screen industries which is evident in the activities of national and regional agencies in the UK. After an overview of the location market in the UK and the production support available at the regional level, the essay will address the crime narratives set in local settings, and the role played by the film agencies, in particular Screen Yorkshire. Screen Yorkshire since its establishment in 2002 proved successful in developing the growth of screen industries in the area, thanks to its specialisation in commercial content investment and the introduction of the Yorkshire Content Fund (YCF). The essay will engage with the different supporting mechanisms available in the areas, through the analysis of the crime productions to reveal how matters of location and heritage play a role in the crime narratives.
application/pdf
2036-461X
16390
36/37
en
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Cinéma & Cie. Film and Media Studies Journal
Crime Films
Away from London: Crime and Regional Film Commissions in the UK
Text.Serial.Journal
https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/cinemaetcie
21
Thematic issue / Section thématique
2021-11-17
2021-09-19
2021-11-17
2022-12-30
83-100
Cinéma & Cie
Markus Schleich
2021/11/17
10.13130/2036-461X/16390
83
Queen’s University of Belfast
2036-461X
36/37
Crime Films
en
100
Away from London: Crime and Regional Film Commissions in the UK
https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/cinemaetcie/article/download/16390/14746
21
                                                                                       Away from London:
                                                                                       Crime and Regional Film
                                                                                       Commissions in the UK
                                                                                       Markus Schleich, Queen’s University of Belfast




                                                                                       The purpose of this essay is to investigate the role played by regional film agencies                    Keywords
                                                                                       in the new Millenium production of TV crime drama in the UK by looking in particular
                                                                                                                                                                                       Production Studies
                                                                                       at the portfolio of Screen Yorkshire. The recent development of production hubs and
                                                                                       the global competition for studio spaces, location, and facilities, led to increased               UK film policies
                                                                                       importance of regional settings and support for the screen industries which                           Regionalism
                                                                                       is evident in the activities of national and regional agencies in the UK. After an                Location Studies
                                                                                       overview of the location market in the UK and the production support available at                      Crime Films
                                                                                       the regional level, the essay will address the crime narratives set in local settings,
                                                                                                                                                                                                       DOI
                                                                                       and the role played by the film agencies, in particular Screen Yorkshire. Screen
                                                                                       Yorkshire since its establishment in 2002 proved successful in developing the            10.13130/2036-461X/16390
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License




                                                                                       growth of screen industries in the area, thanks to its specialisation in commercial
                                                                                       content investment and the introduction of the Yorkshire Content Fund (YCF). The
                                                                                       essay will engage with the different supporting mechanisms available in the areas,
                                                                                       through the analysis of the crime productions to reveal how matters of location and
                                                                                       heritage play a role in the crime narratives.




                                                                                       INTRODUCTION1
                                                                                         The British film and television industry is the fastest-growing sector
                                                                                       within the UK. According to the British Film Institute, the production volume
                                                                                       in the UK accounted for £1.9 billion in 2017, an all-time high which signifies
                                                                                       a 125% increase within the previous ten years, stimulated primarily by
                                                                                       inward investment from US studios.2 Even though Covid-19 put a stop to
                                                                                       most productions in 2020 and the effects of Brexit for the industry are as
                                                                                       of now hard to predict,3 the latest numbers from 2019 saw a staggering
                                                                                       £3.616 as combined total spend on film and high-end TV production in the
                                                                                       UK.4 Britain’s and Northern Ireland’s film and TV studios are struggling to
                                                                                       cope with the demand. A recent study by Lambert, Smith, & Hampton about
                                                                                       the UK’s property markets estimates that there are up to 1.9 million sq. ft.
                                                                                       of new studio space necessary to accommodate the rising demand.5 Film
                                                                                       franchises such as Marvel, Star Wars, to the Harry Potter spin-offs, have
                                                                                       been a key driver of this development, but high-end TV (HETV, productions


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                                                                              
     costing more than £1 million per episode), has been equally impressive.
     According to the BFI, the total UK production spend on HETV was £938
     millions in 2017, which is the highest recorded number since the HETV-tax
     relief came into effect in 2013.6
       Crime, as a genre, plays a strong role within the production ecosystem
     in the UK. While ‘Nordic Noir’ reigns supreme, British crime productions
     such as Broadchurch, Luther, Hinterland, Marcella or Gangs of London
     are more popular than ever and with the growing demand, production
     space becomes scarcer. Since the UK’s significant advantage is its pool
     of highly skilled specialist labour, which means that most productions
     can be crewed locally, international productions, attracted by localised
     tax incentives, choose London’s renowned production facilities.7 The
     studio infrastructure boasts big names such as Pinewood, Leavesden,
     Ealing, Elstree and Twickenham, which have an outstanding reputation in
     servicing international productions. However, even the executive chairman
     of London Film, Adrian Wootton, admits that the success of London,
     ‘breeds increased demand, and while our overriding message is ‘always
     busy, never full’ there is a rising demand for additional studio space.’8
       Regional production hubs have never been more important for the UK
     and regional film agencies play an important role in this development.
     Within the framework of the economic and cultural imperatives of British
     politics and policies that have lastingly reshaped the British film industry
     since the late 1990s, this contribution aims to examine the significance
     of these regional agencies for the British film industry in general and the
     crime genre in particular.
       This essay will examine the policies of the last thirty years that have given
     rise to the regional screen agencies whilst drawing on quantitative data
     from the British Film Institute, Ofcom, Oxford Economics, ONS, and others
     to verify the economic impact and viability of these strategies. The essay will
     engage with the different supporting mechanisms available in the Yorkshire
     region, home to the most successful screen agency in the UK outside
     of London and analyse its mission statements. As the aforementioned
     policies combine economic and cultural goals, the importance of crime
     fiction productions within this framework will be evaluated and a case
     study of The ABC Murders, a prototypical production for Screen Yorkshire
     will discuss the importance of location, heritage, and regional diversity for
     production hubs outside of London.



     Film and Television Production in the UK
       According to a report by Oxford Economics, three-quarters of the jobs in
     the core UK film industry were based in London and the South East in 2010.
     London alone claimed 26,300 jobs (including employees & self-employed),
     or 55% of the total number. There is, however, a significant number of


84                                                        Schleich, Away from London

employees throughout the UK, i.e., 2,200 jobs in the South West and 2,100
jobs in the North West. The report indicates that there is a trend for the
UK core film industry to become less ‘London-centric’ over time, with
more production shifting to areas outside of London. Interestingly, these
shifts are primarily attributed to the growing demand for TV production
employment rather than film. The report argues that increases in regional
funding for both TV and film production over the past decade have made
locations outside London and the South East viable bases for media firms
in the UK.9 Furthermore, the quotas set for Public Service Broadcasters
(PBS, namely BBC, Channel 3 services, Channel 4 and Channel 5) by Ofcom
ensure that a sizeable proportion of their network programmes are made
outside of the M25. To qualify as a regional production, the PBS need to
meet at least two of these three criteria: the production company must have
a substantive business and production base in the UK outside of London,
70% or more of the production budget) must be spent outside of London,
and at 50% of the crew must consist of local talent whose employment is
not registered in London.10
  And while Channel 4’s relocating to Leeds ‘undoubtedly marks a
significant step in turning the tide of London-centrism within the UK,’11 the
British capital remains the powerhouse for film studios and TV production
in the UK. Soho itself is the centre of London’s production industry, with
major players such as Working Title, Number 9 Films, Potboiler Films and
Gorgeous Enterprises based there, along with post-production houses
like De Lane Lea, Prime Focus and DNeg, and a huge variety of agents
and casting directors on tap. Elstree, Leavesden and Shepperton are film
studios within touching distance of London’s centre, all equipped with a
range of stages, backlots and even underwater filming facilities.
  London, however, is by no means the only place ready to host film and
TV productions; the ‘rest of England’ is catching up. Major production
companies are spread throughout the country. The Bottle Yard Studios
in Bristol have become a thriving hub over the last few years, hosting a
wide range of productions from feature films to crime shows such as
Broadchurch. Glasgow’s STV productions have been operating since 2008
and are home to Ian Rankin’s highly popular Rebus adaptions for television
and also for Taggart, the longest-running Scottish crime show. Northern
Ireland boasts three major production companies in Belfast: The Paint
Hall, Titanic Studios, and The Belfast Harbour Studios. Productions such
as Game of Thrones and The Fall have turned Belfast into a major player
and there is a major rise in productions and interest from all over the
world. The Doctor Who franchise has completely transformed film and
TV production in Wales and the region remains attractive for films and
television shows. Pinewood Studio Wales in Cardiff is the largest complex
of its kind ever built in Wales. In 2016, part of the internationally successful
show, Sherlock, was shot here.
  The most striking example of the rise of regional production hubs outside


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     of London is the growing popularity of Yorkshire. In 2018, Screen Yorkshire’s
     contribution to the creative industries was recognised by the BFI following
     the aforementioned study of EU Funding of the UK screen sectors between
     2007–2017. The report showed how EU funding had enabled the screen
     sector and the economy to grow, attract investment, and generate jobs.
     Screen Yorkshire – through its Yorkshire Content Fund – was cited as
     having delivered unprecedented growth in turnover and employment in
     the screen industries, delivering high-end television and film productions
     across the region such as Peaky Blinders and The Great Train Robbery.12



     The Rise of Regional Production Hubs
        While London is an internationally recognised capital of filmmaking with
     54.6% of UK firms in the sector and more than 80% of their turnover (BFI,
     2015b), the upward trajectory of regional production hubs outside of London
     is undeniable. This corresponds with the regionalisation of media and film
     policies in the last 20 years in the United Kingdom and, simultaneously,
     with a ‘hybridisation of British film with the US.’13
        Ever since the 1920s, concerns about the dominance of Hollywood,
     Americanisation, and, subsequently, ‘the erosion of British culture’14 have
     played a key role in the UK’s film policies. Until the mid-80s, the UK’s film
     policies attempted to bolster the national industry by applying protectionist
     measures imposed on distributors and exhibitors alike, and subsidy of the
     National Film Finance Corporation (NFFC) which was supposed to be ‘an
     economic and ideological imperative to foster an alternative to Hollywood.’15
        However, until the 2000s, all attempts to bolster the UK film industry has
     not succeeded in creating a strong alternative to the US, hence, leaving the
     production sites in a ‘corporately-dispersed’ state. As Margarete Dickinson
     and Sylvia Harvey point out, for the longest time, UK films had to find a way
     to co-exist with Hollywood, which led to collusion rather than competition,16
     as the local industry remained strongly dependent on Hollywood financing
     and had to work within a distribution system and exhibition market which
     was essentially shaped by Hollywood too.17
        One important factor that altered the UK’s production landscape
     thoroughly was the New Labour government (1997–2010): ‘two key
     elements – cultural nationalism and economic intervention –[were] at the
     heart of the UK government’s “creative economy” policy.’18 To warrant their
     interests, the UK government created the Film Council as a body in 2000:
     the UK Film Council (UKFC) was a non-departmental public body to boost
     UK films on the level of production and distribution. Constituted as a private
     company and owned by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport,
     it was funded from various sources including the National Lottery.
        Following the 1997 election victory, New Labour’s first Culture Secretary,
     Chris Smith, announced the ‘re-branding UK’ cultural project, designed


86                                                        Schleich, Away from London

to transform its cultural image from a national heritage culture to what
was termed ‘Cool Britannia.’ This marked the monetisation of the UK’s
creative sector and an increasingly economic dimension in how culture was
perceived.19 The UKFC, ‘an iconic New Labour creation,’20 was primarily
designed to adjust the UK’s film policies and production infrastructure to
conform to the commercial orientations of the Hollywood studio system.
   Following a major review of the film infrastructure in England from April
to September 2000, the UKFC set up nine Regional Screen Agencies for
each of the regions of England, to deliver support for filmmaking, related
media activities, and to foster the ‘wealth of talent and ambition in the
regions.’21 While the economic motivations of the UKFC are undeniable,
the report emphasises the cultural importance of film as the single
most important source of education and information and links this with
each region’s capacity to determine its own cultural priorities.22 The
report makes repeated mention of the cultural impact of these regional
production funds: they will aim to ‘produce innovative work, provide
opportunities for creative risk-taking, bring new voices and new visions to
the screen;’23 ‘cultural and ethnic diversity and countering social exclusion
will be central to the fund;’24 the funds will be used to aggressively promote
cultural imperatives;25 will reflect the rich cultural diversity of the UK;26
take account of differing regional characteristics.27
   This is noteworthy as it signified a rhetoric shift: The tension between
film culture and film industry has not been dissolved during the New
Labour years, but the semantics certainly changed, promoting the cultural
worth of film for the British identity.28 Hence, promoting a culturally diverse
Britain and all the various iterations of ‘Britishness’29 was at the very core
of how this new shift was communicated and ‘education, heritage and
cultural exhibition’ took the centre stage not only on a national but also a
regional level.30
   These imperatives also have implications for the crime genre which
‘is clearly the most popular genre across Europe’ for novels, television
series, and films and crime fiction productions are in high demand in most
European countries.31 Within the policy framework above, crime has an
important role to play as it not only one of the ‘most popular genres for
European audiences’ but also ‘arguably also the most culturally sensitive
and nuanced.’32 As the UKFC encourages and supports productions that
‘make contributions to the creation of community and identity within their
regional context,’33 this should lead to more localised crime fiction in the
UK. As crime fiction is often described as a mirror of society,34 crime is
the ideal vehicle for introducing this regionalism to a wider audience. This
illustrates that the trend for crime fiction to shift away from criminal activity
towards highlighting the spatial setting of the crime which often includes
the characters’ attachment to it has been an essential part of crime fiction
from its very inception.35 Crime fiction has, since the second half of the 20th
century, given increasing importance to specific local and regional settings


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                                                                               
     as crime provides a framework for a wider interrogation of society.36 This
     heightened interest in localism and regionalism makes the crime genre a
     tool for regional value creation at a time when both regionalism and the
     creative industries moved up the political agenda.37 In a globalised world
     is more important than ever for regions and cities to evoke a sense of
     geographical distinctiveness:

              Today’s film viewers maybe tomorrow’s tourists, investors or
              economic migrants. The pop culture of moving images defines
              places; be it Guernsey in Bergerac, Dorset in The French
              Lieutenant’s Woman or the streets of Gateshead in Get Carter.
              The national campaign currently led by some Gateshead
              residents and enthusiasts to save the multi-storey car park
              featured in the film is a testament to the power of the moving
              image to define places and create local pride.38

       With the popularity of the genre and the various funding mechanisms in
     place in the UK’s different regions, crime stories that explore local societies
     and promote the locations where they are made are to be expected.
       In that sense, a significant part of this initiative was to deal with problems
     many of the English regions outside of London were facing, such as
     a disparity of funding for culture (Stark et al., 2013) and a shortage of
     cultural productions which limited cultural discourses associated with
     these regions and their image.39 While almost every board member of the
     UKFC did stem from ‘a London-centric and transatlantic orientated elite’40
     the funds correctly identified that talents and skills pivotal for a thriving
     industry could be groomed all over the UK. This development is

              emblematic of a broader move in the entertainment industry
              to shift production out of London, which has long hogged the
              industry’s attention, talent and resources. The goal: to spread
              the wealth and identify new stories and new voices from parts
              of the U.K., including Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland,
              which have historically been overshadowed by the British
              capital.41

       The nine regional screen agencies were: Screen East (East of England), EM
     Media (East Midlands), Film London (Greater London), Northern Film and
     Media (North East England), Vision+Media (North West England), Screen
     South (South East England), South West Screen (South West England),
     Screen West Midlands (West Midlands), Screen Yorkshire (Yorkshire and
     the Humber).
       These regional screen agencies had to fulfil a variety of cultural,
     economic and social objectives. They were responsible for the use of
     public funds (National Lottery funding and the Regional Investment Fund
     for England) in the support of production and project development, and for
     encouraging investment from the private sector; the promotion of crews


88                                                         Schleich, Away from London

and facilities within their respective regions to producers nationally and
internationally; working with regional development agencies to guarantee
sustainable growth; providing supervision, training and funds for regional
talents; dissemination data on the film sector at the regional level and
coordinating the activities of other organisations, both private and public;
educational activities on film and film culture within the community and
educational institutions; support of emerging filmmakers; organising of
local film-festivals; establishing archives for the audio-visual heritage of
the UK regions; providing financial support to bring under-represented
communities into the regional cinemas. The agencies had to promote
the uniqueness of their locations: ‘RSAs promote the landscapes and
urban environments that can be used for location filming, stressing the
uniqueness of each region and the diversity which is to be found within
it.’42 To attract producers, the screen agencies created a network of local
businesses within the audio-visual sector and by fostering a highly skilled
workforce that could take over various steps of the production process.43
   The regional screen agency network was closed very hastily and
surprisingly in 2011,44 with several services consolidated into Creative
England and the majority of screen agencies dissolved. While the main
goal of the UKFC was ‘to unify the previously diffuse elements of UK film
production, it re-emerged as fragmented.’45 However, even though most
regional agencies were stripped of their autonomy, a few continued to
thrive, most notably Film London and Screen Yorkshire.



Screen Yorkshire
  Screen Yorkshire is one of nine regional screen agencies by the UK Film
Council in 2002 and launched their first production fund in 2003 which
went on to invest in prestigious films such as the BAFTA-award-winning
This is England (director and date). Unlike most other screen agencies,
Screen Yorkshire became a stand-alone private company specialising
in commercial content investment. Since its launch in February 2012,
the Yorkshire Content Fund, with backing from the European Regional
Development Fund (ERDF), has invested in more than forty film & TV
projects including many crime films and shows such as Official Secrets,
Yardie, The Great Train Robbery, Unforgiven, Black Work (BBC, 2015),
Exhibit A, Kill List, This Is England, This Is England ’86 (Channel 4, 2010),
’71, and Peaky Blinders.
  In June 2017, Screen Yorkshire announced figures from the Office of
National Statistics (ONS) that revealed that the growth of Yorkshire creative
industries performed better than any other region in the UK, including
the South East (ONS 2017). The figures showed that between 2009–2015,
Yorkshire’s Film & TV Industries generated an annual turnover of £424m
(an increase of 247% against the UK average of 118%). The ONS data also


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                                                                            
     showed that the number of business units across Yorkshire and Humber
     grew 57% vs a UK average of 47%, while employment across the film and
     TV industries in the region grew 88% against a UK average of 32%.46
       According to Sally Joynson, chief executive at Screen Yorkshire, the
     Yorkshire Content Fund was the main driver for the success of the agency.
     As of 2019, the fund brought £157 millions of new business to the region
     through its investment activities:

              That production and activity have been growing for several
              years now and a lot of that growth is off the back of Screen
              Yorkshire activities and the Yorkshire Content Fund. It allows
              us to part-finance film and television. That has been a really
              important factor, particularly in drama, and it’s drama where
              you get these big international sales; they are high profile and
              big budget.47

       Either producers based in Yorkshire or producers planning to film or
     establish a base in the region are eligible to apply for the fund. Managed by
     Screen Yorkshire, the fund can contribute from £10,000 to £500,000 to an
     individual film or TV production — as long as there is equal private backing
     available. Investment returns will be reinvested in the fund to ensure
     sustainability and allowing for continued long term support of content
     development and production in the region:

              The fund exists to address the issue of a lack of access to
              capital for screen industries companies that need to part-
              finance the production of projects. It aims to make a return on
              its investment to be able to continue to support these industries
              within the region. It also aims to create jobs and increase the
              GVA (Gross Value Added) of successful applicant companies.
              Job creation and regional spend will be monitored throughout
              the project.48

       When the fund launched in 2012, the first script they received, and later
     funded was Peaky Blinders, productions like Downton Abbey and Gentleman
     Jack quickly followed, raising the profile of production in Yorkshire and the
     reputation of Yorkshire ‘as a very serious place to do production business’
     and the Yorkshire Content Fund is by now ‘the largest regional fund in
     Britain.’49 To further the attractiveness of the region, Screen Yorkshire
     set up an adapted film studio. The studios encompass three former RAF
     hangars spanning 440 acres midway between Leeds and York and hosts
     facilities such as offices, garages, and workshops. According to Sally
     Joynson, the opening of the studios has been made possible by the success
     of the Yorkshire Content Fund and presents a ‘significant landmark for the
     UK film and TV industry.’ And while the fund brought many projects ‘that
     have made great use of our existing portfolio of studio space’ to the region,
     a ‘lack of a larger-scale production facility, however, has prevented many


90                                                       Schleich, Away from London

major long-term film and TV productions from basing themselves here.’50
   With almost twenty years of managing investment funds and coordinating
the creative industries within the region, Screen Yorkshire offers a wide
range of support for producers: if there is a need for studios, locations,
crew, facilities, office space, or other suppliers, Screen Yorkshire will
help source these or put the producers in touch with someone who can.
The agency’s portfolio features many testimonials from people who have
used their services. One example is Official Secrets (Gavin Hood, 2019).
The true-life story as journalist Katharine Gun, who leaked a top-secret
National Security Agency memo was produced by Raindog Films and ran
into production problems after a previous version of the film came undone
during pre-production. This left Raindog films with budgetary restraints,
making it financially unfeasible to shoot on location in Cheltenham and
London. After getting in touch with Screen Yorkshire, they secured funding
from the Yorkshire Content Fund, were put in touch with local crews
and location scouts, and within days, it became clear that the locations
in Yorkshire could easily double for Cheltenham and London,51 but at a
fraction of the cost.
   Especially Hull’s Old Town, which is home to many listed buildings,
real ale pubs and the period cobbled streets and alleyways that make it
a perfect double for Dickensian London has become a popular area for
filming. Harriet Lawrence, the supervising location manager of The
Personal History of David Copperfield (Armando Iannucci, 2020) reports
similar experiences with Screen Yorkshire:

          Hull is an astonishing gem of an old city and filming David
          Copperfield there was an absolute pleasure. Our director
          and production designer were impressed and inspired by the
          extensive range of period architecture in Hull’s Old Town -
          particularly the network of numerous historic cobbled streets
          which allowed us to recreate 19th century Dickensian London.52

  Screen Yorkshire’s reputation as being incredibly ‘film-maker friendly’
is expressed by many filmmakers. Filmmakers are impressed with the
freedoms granted to them to film within a city, the city councils provide
affordable logistical support which is ‘vital when persuading producers
that travelling out of the capital will offer a really viable option.’53



Case Study: The ABC Murders (2018)
  The ABC Murders is a very specific drama that, since it is an adaptation
of Agatha Christie’s 1936 novel of the same name set in London, and one
could immediately argue that it is difficult to see the cultural diversity of the
region on the screen. That, however, is quite fitting as this is quite often the
case. The most prestigious project of Screen Yorkshire, Peaky Blinders, is


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                                                                             
     famously set in Birmingham and the fact that Screen Yorkshire prominently
     uses these two series to showcase their achievements is quite telling on
     what kind of productions they are trying to attract. Other, less noticeable
     crime productions, such as Netflix’s Residue (dte) and the Channel 4 mini-
     series National Treasure (date) are also primarily set in London.
        A show that does illustrate the cultural diversity of the Region, BBC’s
     Happy Valley, was shot in Yorkshire in locations such as Todmorden,
     Luddenden, Mytholmroyd, Bradford, Keighley, Sowerby Bridge, Hebden
     Bridge, and Heptonstall. Huddersfield, Halifax, Bradford, Leeds and other
     West Yorkshire cities are actively mentioned even though no actual filming
     took place here.54 This ‘true Yorkshire’ crime drama was realised without
     any involvement from Screen Yorkshire which means that within their
     portfolio, the aforementioned cultural diversity is scarce.
        The ABC Murders is a 2018 BBC One mystery-thriller television mini-
     series adapted by Sarah Phelps and directed by Alex Gabassi and
     broadcast December 26–28, 2018 in three instalments. Driven by the star
     power of John Malkovich as Hercule Poirot, Rupert Grint of Harry Potter
     fame as Inspector Crome, and Andrew Buchan, Tara Fitzgerald and Shirley
     Henderson in supporting roles, this prestige project is the fourth Agatha
     Christie adaptation produced by Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie
     Limited for BBC One. The prior adaptations, however, And Then There Were
     None, Witness for the Prosecution and Ordeal by Innocence are standalone
     mysteries, The ABC Murders is the first to feature Agatha Christie’s most
     beloved detective, Hercule Poirot.
        BAFTA-nominated writer Sarah Phelps explores the 20th Century
     through Christie’s work, originally published in 1936. Set in the 1930s, a
     time when fascism and xenophobic sentiments are on the rise. In these
     challenging times, Poirot has to track a serial killer known as A.B.C. Poirot
     receives letters signed with A.B.C. which foreshadow crimes that will
     soon be committed. More letters soon arrive at Poirot’s London flat, each
     shortly followed by a murder being carried out by A.B.C. and committed in
     alphabetical order. First, the killer strikes in Andover, then Bexhill. As the
     murder count rises, the only clue is the copy of The ABC Railway Guide at
     each crime scene.
        While the plot is set in London and nearby parts of Southern England, the
     mini-series was filmed at the Prime Studios in Leeds. The ABC Murders
     filmed extensively in Yorkshire over three months during summer 2018 and
     features a range of period Yorkshire locations, doubling for 1930’s London
     and its surroundings, including; Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, Leeds
     Town Hall, Quebecs Hotel, Leeds, The Queens Hotel, Leeds, Victoria Leeds,
     Bradford City Hall, Ripon Spa Baths, Keighley and Worth Valley Railway,
     Embsay Historic Railway and St John’s Square Wakefield, Little Germany
     in Bradford, Saltaire Village, North Yorkshire Moors Railway, Newby Hall
     and Allerton Castle. (Fig. 1)
        Charlie Thompson, the location manager of The ABC Murders, is full


92                                                        Schleich, Away from London

                                                                                   Fig. 1: Clockwise
                                                                                   from top left: Allerton
                                                                                   Castle, Bradford
                                                                                   City Hall, Leeds City
                                                                                   Varieties Music Hall,
                                                                                   Leeds Town Hall.




of praise for the work done and support provided by Screen Yorkshire:
‘Yorkshire offered us the perfect base for The ABC Murders. We had a
wealth of period locations at our fingertips all within easy reach, including
doubles for 1920s London. Couple that with a film-friendly environment,
Yorkshire is one of the best places for location filming in the U.K.’55
  Economically speaking, as an HETV production that costs at least £1
million and is backed by a PBS, the ABC Murders certainly qualifies as the
kind of project that sits well within the Screen Yorkshire portfolio. The market
value, recoupment position, distribution deals, broadcaster commission,
and ‘star-studded’ cast all make this mini-series a prestigious project for
the region that also benefitted in a broader sense as the production spend
within the region, of course, contributes to the overall growth of Yorkshire
and Humber.
  The cultural contribution, a pillar purpose of the original regional
screen agencies, deserves some attention too. It is hard to understate
the importance of Agatha Christie: ‘For many, Agatha Christie is as
quintessentially English as queueing for Pimm’s at Wimbledon. But as the
best-selling novelist in history, her reputation goes far beyond the UK.’56
Christie is one of the world’s best-selling novelists with sales estimated
ranging between two and four billion sold copies. Spanning sixty-six
detective novels and fourteen short stories have been translated into over
a hundred languages and her readership is thought to be around half a
billion. Christie is one of the most translated authors worldwide and a
large number of people are learning English by reading her novels and
are also introduced to English culture by proxy. Her mass popularity
often overshadows the fact that she was published by The Bodley Head,
‘a publisher known for its support of the avant-garde and experimental
highbrow works.’57
  Given this context, it would be difficult to argue that Christie qualifies


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     as a ‘new voice’ or that her work presents audiences with ‘a new vision.’
     However, The ABC Murders writer Sarah Phelps’ script takes some liberties
     which are noteworthy:

              One of the themes that the series brings up, which is not so
              prominent in the book, is the rise of fascism in 1933 England.
              From the start, the series points to posters with slogans such
              as “March for England. We must stem the alien tide.” The
              Belgian Poirot is faced with this growing nationalism in which a
              train ticket inspector drops his ticket on the floor after hearing
              his accent. The connection with today’s Britain and Brexit is
              flagrant and obviously deliberate… While the posters may not
              exist in Christie’s book, the animosity toward Poirot because
              he is from Belgium does appear in the letters in Christie’s
              original story.58

        There is undoubtedly cultural merit in this production and as it examines
     today’s British society through the lens of a crime novel published between
     the two World Wars. The aspect of regionality, however, remains muddled.
     Screen Yorkshire goes at great length to make a connection between the
     crime author and the location hub used for this production: ‘Agatha Christie
     once ran away to Harrogate, so it’s fitting that filming came to Yorkshire for
     The ABC Murders’ (Screen Yorkshire 2020). This link is somewhat weak.
     It is true that Christie famously disappeared in 1926 which caused one of
     the biggest national manhunts the country had ever seen, with Sir Arthur
     Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers involved in the search. After eleven
     days, Christie resurfaced at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel in Harrogate. Yet,
     Harrogate has never fully capitalised on its close association with Agatha
     Christie in terms of tourism marketing and it has never had any lasting
     effect on the regional identity.59
        Speaking of (screen-)tourism, it is noteworthy that being a stand-in
     for another location can still benefit a region and its cultural heritage.
     Broadchurch is set in a fictional town, however, the real location
     Dorset capitalised on the huge success of the ITV crime show by using
     Broadchurch to leverage both landscapes and small towns as perfect
     tourism destinations. Shot across the South West in Clevedon, North
     Somerset, Yate in South Gloucestershire, and West Bay and Bridport in
     West Dorset, Broadchurch is set in an area traditionally dominated by
     literary tours following the footsteps of Jane Austen and Mary Anning
     along the Jurassic Coast. It is fair to say that especially the cliffs that are
     omnipresent in Broadchurch qualify as a tourist attraction. Even though
     Broadchurch is a purely fictional location, the show goes at great length
     to illustrate the significance of the specific locality, which in turn created
     touristic interest for the region.60
        The same does not ring true for The ABC Murders: Yorkshire, as a region,
     is neither culturally present nor represented in this television production.
     Few people will look up where Poirot’s London flat actually is or whether


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
this is the real King’s Cross that they get to see in The ABC Murders. The
production brings prestige and economic benefits to the region but in turn,
does not do much to publicly reflect the rich cultural heritage of Yorkshire.



Conclusion
  While London will remain the centre of film and television productions,
creative hubs away from London are thriving, partly because of the steadily
growing availability of film crews and facilities, but also because of the
touristic appeal of the regions. Regional film agencies such as Yorkshire
Screen play an important role in attracting producers by offering highly
skilled workforces, significant funding opportunities, a rich portfolio of
unique urban and rural locations. Facilitating shooting on location is only
one of the many support mechanisms and one of the most potent tools the
regional agency has to ‘develop the identity of their region by connecting it
with national audiences.’61
  This tension between ‘industrial and a cultural remit’62 has always
characterised the UK’s film industry. The audio-visual sector is both part
of an industry and a cultural practice63 and the film policies of the new
millennium acknowledge film as ‘a complex combination of industry and
culture. Common to both are creativity and commerce. […] we assume
that industry and culture are inextricably linked.’64 All attempts of the
UKFC to combine ‘cutting edge’ neoliberal economic policies with cultural
approaches have tended to fail or, eventually, reveal their true priorities.
In his article, ‘British film policy in an age of austerity,’ Jack Newsinger
rightly states that the UKFC failed to make a case cultural diversity or
regional heritage, as the criteria for funding and support were primarily
commercial.65 The UKFC and the bodies that absorbed it when it was
dissolved ‘attempted to develop a form of state subsidy that could nurture
and promote industrial growth as well as further social agendas of cultural
value, diversity and equality of opportunity, provided that such societal
imperatives did not supersede the overriding economic agendas.’66
  London still attracts the biggest projects and global competition for
studio spaces, location, and facilities, make regional production hubs
and supporting regional screen agencies a necessity to ensure the UK’s
standing as a competitive production market.67 The main effect, as this
article attempted to show, is that the regional hubs mainly act as stand-ins
for London — and effectively pitch themselves as cheaper placeholders.
Productions that struggle to book studios or afford on-location shoots in
the capital will find cheaper alternatives in the northern parts of the UK
and boost the local economies. The new voices, the regional stories, and
the cultural diversity that was an integral part of how this shift towards
regions outside of London has been communicated in the respective
policies remain at the fringes of the UK’s film production. The regions


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     might host the actual productions, but the stories remain a lot more
     London-centric than the success of an agency such as Screen Yorkshire
     might indicate.




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
Notes
  1
     The research presented here has been financed by the research project DETECt – Detecting
Transcultural Identity in European Popular Crime Narratives (Horizon 2020, 2018–2021) [Grant
agreement number 770151].
  2
     British Film Institute, BFI Statistics 2017, online publication, 31 January 2018, https://www2.bfi.
org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-press-release-bfi-statistics-new-record-uk-film-high-
end-tv-production-spend-2018-01-31.pdf [accessed 10 January 2021].
  3
    British Film Institute, Film and Other Screen Sectors Production in the UK: Full Year 2020, online
publication, 5 February 2021, https://core-cms.bfi.org.uk/media/6334/download [accessed 10 April
2021].
  4
     British Film Institute, Film, High-end Television and Animation Programmes Production in the
UK: Full-year 2019, 31 January 2020, https://core-cms.bfi.org.uk/media/951/download [accessed 10
April 2021].
  5
     Lambert, Smith, Hampton, ‘Sites, Camera, Action. The UK Film & TV Studio Property Market
2018,’ 10 June 2018, https://www.lsh.co.uk/-/media/migrated/files/lsh/2018_06_10392_film-
studios-research-report-print.ashx?la=en&hash=598265F77A53B685E1247720F67950A9521025C4
[accessed 10 January 2021].
  6
    British Film Institute, ‘BFI Statistics 2017’.
  7
    Gianluca Sergi, Studios and Spaces of Production in the Digital Era: Global Challenges and Local
Opportunities for the Screen Industries (Welbeck: University of Nottingham, 2011), p. 6.
  8
    Lambert, Smith, Hampton, ‘Sites, Camera, Action’.
  9
     Oxford Economics, Economic Contribution of the UK Film Industry, 1 June 2010, https://www.
bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/economic-impact-of-the-uk-film-industry-2010-06.pdf
[accessed 10 January 2021].
  10
      Ofcom, Made Outside London Programme Titles Register 2019, 30 September 2020, https://
www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/203821/made-outside-london-register-2019.pdf
[accessed 10 April 2021].
  11
      Nathan Townsend, ‘Channel 4 in Leeds: A New Hub to Unlock Creativity in the UK’s Nations
and Regions,’ The Conversation, 24 August 2020, https://theconversation.com/channel-4-in-leeds-
a-new-hub-to-unlock-creativity-in-the-uks-nations-and-regions-144636 [accessed 10 April 2021].
  12
     British Film Institute, Mapping Study of EU Funding of the UK Screen Sectors 2007-2017, 1 March
2018, https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-mapping-study-eu-funding-uk-
screen-sectors-2007-2017-v2.pdf [accessed 10 January 2021].
  13
      Clive James Nwonka and Sarita Malik, ‘Cultural Discourses and Practices of Institutionalised
Diversity in the UK Film Sector’, The Sociological Review, 66.6 (2018), 1111–1127 (p. 1115).
  14
      Andrew Higson, Film England: Culturally English Filmmaking since the 1990s (London: I.B.
Tauris), p. 14.
  15
     Sarah Street, British National Cinema (London: Routledge, 1997), p. 9.
  16
     Margarete Dickinson and Sylvia Harvey, ‘Film Policy in the United Kingdom: New Labour at the
Movies’, The Political Quarterly, 76.3 (2005), 420–429 (p. 425).
  17
     Higson, Film England, p. 14.
  18
     Maggie Magor and Philip Schlesinger, ‘“For this relief much thanks.” Taxation, film policy and the
UK government’, Screen, 50.3 (2009), 299–317 (p. 300).


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 19
     David Hesmondhalgh et al., Culture, Economy and Politics: The Case of New Labour, (London:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).
  20
     Gillian Doyle, ‘Film Support and the Challenge of Sustainability: On Wing Design, Wax and Feathers,
and Bolts from the Blue’, Journal of British Cinema and Television, 11.2 (2014), 129–151 (p. 133).
  21
     UK Film Council, Film in England: A Development Strategy for Film and the Moving Image in the
English Region, 1 November 2018, https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/uk-film-
council-film-in-england.pdf [accessed 10 January 2021].
  22
     UK Film Council, Film in England’, p. 5.
  23
     UK Film Council, Film in England, p. 27.
  24
     UK Film Council, Film in England, p. 5.
  25
     UK Film Council, Film in England, p. 6.
  26
     UK Film Council, Film in England, p. 10.
  27
      UK Film Council, Towards a Sustainable UK Film Industry, online publication, 31 October
2014,https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-towards-a-sustainable-film-
industry-2014-10-31.pdf [accessed 10 January 2021].
  28
     UK Film Council, Statistical Yearbook 2009, 2009, https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/
downloads/uk-film-council-statistical-yearbook-2009.pdf [accessed 10 January 2021].
  29
     Higson, Film England, p. 43.
  30
     British Film Institute, ‘UK Film Council Statistical Yearbook 2009’.
  31
     Ib Bondebjerg et al., Transnational European Television Drama. Production, Genres, Audiences
(London: Macmillan Palgrave, 2017), p. 223.
  32
      Kim Toft Hansen, Steven Peacock and Sue Turnbull, ‘Down These European Mean Streets:
Contemporary Issues in European Television Crime Drama’, in European Television Crime Drama
and Beyond. Palgrave European Film and Media Studies, ed. by Kim Toft Hansen, Steven Peacock and
Sue Turnbull (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2017), 1–19 (p. 1).
  33
     John Holden, The Big Picture: The Regional Screen Agencies Building Community, Identity and
Enterprise (London: Demos, 2006), p. 19.
  34
     Carlos Clemens, Crime Movies (Cambridge Ma: Da Capo Press, 1997), p. 7.
  35
     Almuth Heuner ‘Germany’s Crime and Mystery Scene’, World Literature Today, 85.3 (2011), 16 (p.
16).
  36
      Marieke Krejenbrink, and Kate M. Quinn, Investigating Identities: Questions of Identity in
Contemporary International Crime Fiction (Amsterdam, Ropoi, 2009), p. 7–9.
  37
     Holden, ‘Big Picture’, p. 6.
  38
     Holden, ‘Big Picture’, p. 25.
  39
     Sarita Malik, Caroline Chapain, and Roberta Comunian, ‘Rethinking Cultural Diversity in the UK
Film Sector: Practices in Community Dilmmaking’, Organization, 24.3 (2017), 308–329.
  40
     Nwonka and Malik, ‘Cultural discourses and practices’, p. 1116.
  41
     Leo Barraclough, ‘U.K. Entertainment Industry Moves Beyond London,’ Variety, 17 January 2020,
https://variety.com/2020/biz/features/uk-entertainment-business-london-1203468703/ [accessed
10 January 2021].
  42
     Nick Redfern, ‘Defining British Cinema: Transnational and Territorial Film Policy in the United
Kingdom’, Journal of British Cinema and Television, 4.1 (2007), 150–164 (p. 155).
  43
     Keith Bassett et al., ‘Cultural Industries, Cultural Clusters and the City: the Example of Natural
History Film-Making in Bristol’, Geoforum, 33 (2002), 165–77.
  44
     Charles Gant, ‘10 years on: The inside story of the last days of the UK Film Council,’ Screen Daily,



98                                                                              Schleich, Away from London
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27 July 2020, https://www.screendaily.com/features/10-years-on-the-inside-story-of-the-last-days-
of-the-uk-film-council/5151865.article [accessed 10 January 2021].
  45
     Nwonka and Malik, ‘Cultural discourses and practices’, p. 1116.
  46
         Office   for   National     Statistics, British Film IndustryL Count, Employees
and Turnover by Region and Size, 27 October 2017, https://www.ons.gov.uk/
employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/
adhocs/0o8458employmentandplaceofemploymentinthefilmindustry2017 [accessed 10 January
2021].
  47
     Nadia Jefferson-Brown, ‘Why Yorkshire’s Thriving Media industry is Booming,’ The Press, 6
December 2019 https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/18082625.yorkshires-thriving-media-industry-
booming/ [accessed 10 January 2021].
  48
      Cf. the ‘Funding’ section of Screen Yorkshire website, https://www.screenyorkshire.co.uk/
funding/ [accessed 10 January 2021].
  49
     Nadia Jefferson-Brown, ‘Why Yorkshire’s Thriving Media industry is Booming.’
  50
     Anon., ‘Screen Yorkshire to Develop Adapted Film Studio in Northern England,’ The Location
Guide, 5 June 2015, https://www.thelocationguide.com/2015/06/ng-studio-news-screen-yorkshire-
to-develop-adapted-film-studio-in-northern-england/ [accessed 10 January 2021].
  51
     It is not only London for which Yorkshire finds substitutes. Peaky Blinders is famously set in
Birmingham and the Troubles drama ’71 takes place on the streets of Belfast. Both were shot in
Leeds which additional scenes shot in Blackburn.
  52
     ‘Hull Location Spotlight: The Personal History of David Copperfield,’ Screen Yorkshire, 2020,
https://www.screenyorkshire.co.uk/funding/productions/hull-location-spotlight-the-personal-
history-of-david-copperfield/ [accessed 10 January 2021].
  53
     Screen Yorkshire, Hull, Location Spotlight.
  54
     Adam Roberts, ‘Creative England Provides Filming Location and Crew Support to New BBC
Drama Happy Valley When Filming in Yorkshire,’ Creative England, June 23, 2014, https://www.
creativeengland.co.uk/creative-england-provides-filming-location-and-crew-support-to-new-bbc-
drama-happy-valley-when-filming-in-yorkshire/ [accessed 10 April 2021].
  55
     Anon., ‘The ABC Murders,’ Screen Yorkshire, 2019, https://www.screenyorkshire.co.uk/funding/
productions/the-abc-murders/ [accessed 10 January 2021].
  56
     Christine Ro, ‘Agatha Christie Shaped How the World Sees Britain,’ BBC, 07 September 2018,
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180907-agatha-christie-shaped-how-the-world-sees-
britain [accessed 10 January 2021].
  57
     Jessica Davies Porter, ‘The Illustrious and the Vulgar: Christie, Culture and Commerce in the
Golden Age of Detective Fiction’, The Journal of Publishing Culture 8 (2018), 1–12 (p. 2).
  58
     Scott Sheena, ‘The New Adaptation Of The ABC Murders By Agatha Christie On The BBC,’ Forbes,
30 December 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/sheenascott/2018/12/30/the-new-adaptation-of-
the-abc-murders-by-agatha-christie-on-the-bbc/?sh=c8dc2ab7592a [accessed 10 January 2021].
  59
     The Newsroom, ‘Agatha Christie’s Legendary Disappearance in Harrogate Explained,’ Harrogate
Advertiser, 13 April 2017, https://www.harrogateadvertiser.co.uk/news/agatha-christies-legendary-
disappearance-harrogate-explained-850598 [accessed 10 January 2021].
  60
      Olsberg SPI, Quantifying Film and Television Tourism in England, 2015, https://www.
creativeengland.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/quantifying-film-and-tv-.pdf [accessed 10 April
2021].
  61
     Holden, ‘The Big Picture’, p. 25.


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 62
    British Film Institute, ‘UK Film Council in England’, p. 3.
 63
    Hill, ‘Film England’, p. 32.
 64
    British Film Institute, ‘UK Film Council in England’, p. 5.
 65
    Jack Newsinger, ‘British Film Policy in an Age of Austerity’, Journal of British Cinema and
Television, 9 (2012), 133–144 (p. 142).
 66
    Nwonka and Malik, ‘Cultural Discourses and Practices’, p. 1116.
 67
    Lambert, Smith, Hampton, ‘Sites, Camera, Action’.




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