Welcome to Jollywood

The BBC's plans to relocate a large chunk of its production to Salford's Mediacity:uk in 2011 have been heralded as the beginning of a new era for Northwest's TV and film industry.

The move is expected to act as a magnet for other creative organisations keen to capitalise on the corporation's presence. There are hopes for the provision of 15,000 jobs when the site is fully developed.

While there's no denying that Mediacity:uk looks set to provide a massive boost to the region, it shouldn't be forgotten that the Northwest is already home to a thriving TV and film production industry with a proud past and a prosperous present.

Manchester has always been a hotbed for award-winning production. It is the birthplace of Coronation Street, the UK's longest running soap opera, and home to Granada, arguably the country's most successful commercial TV station. Granada still employs 1,200 staff in the region.

The city has spawned more than its share of top TV shows, movies and directors, from Cold Feet to Cracker, 24 Hour Party People to East Is East and Ben Kingsley to Danny Boyle. Its reputation for creating side-splitting comedies and nurturing legendary comedians even earned it the nickname 'Jollywood'.

The Northwest's other major creative centre, Liverpool, is the most filmed UK city, and provided the backdrop for blockbusters such as The Hunt For Red October and The 51st State.

Among the biggest names on the Merseyside scene are Lime Pictures - one of the UK's largest independent television production companies, employing around 500 staff - and Liverpool Film Studios, which was founded by producer Colin McKeown.

Its home-grown talent includes television writers such as Phil Redmond and Alan Bleasdale, and its success stories include long-running TV dramas Grange Hill and Hollyoaks.

Today, both Liverpool and Manchester have vibrant film and TV production scenes. Indeed, approximately 11% of all new programming on network TV comes from the Northwest.

Support provided by Northwest Vision and Media has contributed massively to the current production boom. Northwest Vision was created in 2002 by the Film Council with the aim of growing a world-class media economy in the Northwest. It operates five film offices across the region.

The Greater Manchester office, the busiest of the five offices, reports that film work in the city has hit record levels, with production now pouring millions of pounds into the local economy. The office dealt with 267 production inquiries over the last 12 months, which led to 761 days of filming. TV dramas have been the biggest investors in the city, with shows such as Shameless, Life On Mars and Waterloo Road filming in the city.

In Manchester, Red Production Company is the name behind many of dramas that have made it to the small screen. In addition, several independent production companies, such as Hat Trick and Baby Cow, have opened Manchester offices, and Sumners, the biggest post production facility outside London, has just moved into a former bakery on the Mediacity:uk site.

One of the brightest stars on Manchester's stage is Cosgrove Hall Films, the brains behind cartoons like Danger Mouse, Chorlton And The Wheelies and Noddy.

Today, Cosgrove Hall Films is one of Europe's leading animation studios, and is one of just a handful to do all three types of animation - computer generated imagery (CGI), stop-motion puppet animation and 2D/drawn animation. Red Vision, which opened a Manchester studio in 1995, is another specialist in 3D CGI animation. Its work is being showcased in the ITV comedy series Headcases, which debuted on TV spring 2008.

But there's more to the North West's TV and film scene than Liverpool and Manchester. Barrow-in-Furness based Shoreline Films scooped Best International Short at the Lille Film Festival in 2007 for its A Bit On The Side, and its first feature film, Frozen, was released in cinemas across the UK in 2006.

Kendal, meanwhile, hosts an annual Adventure Film Academy (AFA), giving wannabes a chance to work with some of the top names in adventure film making. 18% of those who have made a short film at AFA go on to work in the film industry.