North provides backdrop for dogging comedy

Jun 14 2009 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

A BIZARRE love story set in the North will unfold on the big screen this summer.

But if you’re expecting a hearts and flowers affair you’ll be barking up the wrong tree . . . it’s about dogging, the practice of having sex in public!

The region is no stranger to providing dramatic settings for blockbusters, as we’ve proved with the likes of Harry Potter, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Billy Elliot, Goal and School for Seduction.

But the delights of the North countryside will be seen in a whole new light when Dogging: A Love Story is released in cinemas across the UK later this summer.

The plot centres on a journalist who goes undercover to write an article about dogging, but he meets another novice who is looking for romance.

The film crew spent a month shooting Dogging: A Love Story in and around Newcastle, Gateshead, Hexham and North Tyneside, including filming scenes at the Angel of the North, on Newcastle Quayside and at St Mary’s Lighthouse.

But the crew were worried about courting controversy with their saucy theme during the 2006 shoot . . . so they filmed under a different title.

Director Simon Ellis, who made the admission in cinema industry publication Screen Daily, said: “The subject matter is something I’ve never done before: it’s people getting together and a bit of romance.

“This duality was definitely something that attracted me to the project.