Campaign to put barrage in film industry spotlight

ITV drama After The Flood featured the Tees Barrage during flooding sequences

TV and film companies wanting to make a splash are being encouraged to look to Teesside.

Campaigners are trying to promote Tees Barrage International White Water Centre, in Stockton, for water scenes.

The site has already featured in shows including Emmerdale and After The Flood, as well as in award-winning war film 1917.

"No one else in the UK is offering what we can provide in terms of a safe, controlled and flexible location for scenes involving floods, or anything to do with water," Tees Active’s managing director Leon Jones said.

Tees Active, which launched the campaign, is a community leisure trust which has worked with Universal, DreamWorks, the BBC, ITV, ITVX, CITV, and Sky Atlantic.

The ITV drama After The Flood featured the Tees Barrage during flooding sequences, in which drivers got stuck in cars and a baby was swept away.

In Emmerdale, a stunt filmed at the site saw cast members plummeting down a waterfall following a bridge collapse.

Tees Barrage International White Water Centre is in north-east England

Facilities and transport links at Tees Barrage have been laid out in a new brochure, which will be sent to location managers and handed out at trade shows and national events.

It is also currently an international venue for water sports.

Councillor Steve Nelson from Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council said the Tees Barrage site had "built up a strong track record".

Mr Nelson added: "Now it’s time to capitalise on our growing reputation in this highly specialist field by showcasing what we have to offer in a more strategic and proactive way."

The site is just one of many in the region for the film industry.

As well as North East Screen, the Northern Film and TV Studios in Hartlepool, work on the Crown Works Project, set to create one of Europe’s biggest film studios, is under way in Sunderland.