TV cutbacks hit region’s profile

Mar 15 2009 by Robert Weatherall, Sunday Sun

A REDUCTION in the amount of new drama being produced is a direct result of business chiefs cutting back on their television advertising budgets. The knock on effect of this is hitting the North particularly hard. ROBERT WEATHERALL asks if the region is in danger of disappearing from our TV screens altogether.

FOR many years the region has been the setting for some of the nation’s favourite telly programmes . . . but troubled broadcasters are starting to pull the plug.

The media spotlight that once highlighted our beautiful countryside and brought with it tourism and a boost to the economy is now being switched off.

Shows that attracted huge audiences, such as Wire In The Blood and 55 Degrees North have already been scrapped, and now Heartbeat and The Royal could vanish from our screens.

You simply can’t put a value on the benefits of being featured in a popular television series.

Having your village, town or region beamed into the homes of millions of people each night helps to raise the profile more effectively than any paid for advertising campaign.

Be it the windswept beauty of the North Yorkshire Moors on Heartbeat and The Royal, the revamped urban cool of the Newcastle and Gateshead Quaysides in 55 Degrees North or the wild Northumberland coastline in Wire In The Blood, being featured in a TV series can do wonders for tourism and raising and area’s profile.

But, now that these programmes are set to vanish from TV screens, will it follow that the rest of the country will forget about everything the North has to offer?