Taking my usual route into the centre of Liverpool a few months ago, I did a double take: the car park I pass each day was suddenly teeming with Sixties-style vehicles, resplendent with sleek tailfins and leather seats. Much as the evidence suggested otherwise, I hadn’t fallen into a time warp – this fleet of classic cars was simply a sign that another period drama was setting up shop in the city.
Living here means getting used to these double-take moments. Your commute might bring you past a Cold War intelligence base for a John le Carré adaptation, or an elaborately built prison camp, like the one that popped up in Sefton Park for Channel 4 thriller Army of Shadows.
My home city is now the most filmed area in the UK outside of London, hosting more than 1,600 film and TV productions since 2019; these have brought in around £150m to the local economy. Not for nothing has it acquired the nickname of “the Hollywood of the North”. On average, there are “about three or four productions filming simultaneously”, says Lynn Saunders, head of the Liverpool Film Office.
