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07
Nov
BBC film crew to descend on village between Harrogate and Ripon for two months
A children’s BBC series is to be filmed in a village between Ripon and Harrogate.
Bishop Monkton Village Hall will partially close for two months in spring next year while shooting takes place for Jamie Johnson FC.
The CBBC drama series about a football academy has previously featured cameo appearances from past and present footballers including Gary Lineker, Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling, so the village could get a famous visitor.
Producer Sam Talbot chose the location after talking to a fellow parent at his daughter’s nearby village school about his struggle to find a suitable location for the football academy that forms part of the film set.
Bishop Monkton Village Hall was mentioned and things developed from there.
Props will be painted and lighting erected before six weeks of filming takes place inside the hall and on the playing fields.
Gerald Shirvington, who chairs the village hall committee, said:
The prestige and financial boost for the village and local economy will be significant.
During the pre-production and wrap-up editing periods we expect something like five or six crew preparing the set and editing the film work, however this rises dramatically to 65 to 75 people on-set when the actual filming takes place and will be made up of film crew as well as actors.
The Mason’s Arms has already received a block-booking for its rooms for the nine-week duration with Ripon and Harrogate hotels taking up the excess.
There will be catering lorries on-site to feed all the cast and crew during filming period, however during the pre-production and wrap-up sessions it is anticipated that this will be catered for locally, so a much need financial boost for the locality.
Bishop Monkton Village Hall. Pic: Bishop Monkton Today
Mr Shirvington said it was hoped villagers will be allowed to attend a red carpet production of the show when production is complete.
The sum paid for the use of the village hall is believed to be more than a year’s worth of bookings.
Mr Shirvington said:
The actual fee is confidential at the moment. However the money we receive will be used to improve our already impressive facility which only recently was valued for insurance purposes at £2.5 million.
He said trying to rearrange bookings at the village hall had been “akin to Operation Overlord”.
Bishop Monkton is a very popular facility and is well used by both locals and those living further afield. We have a very active table tennis club which use the hall some 18 hours a day in 9 x 2 hour sessions, we have homed this club at Markington Village Hall for the nine-week duration.
Other groups such as the bridge club, the local WI, pickleball and keep-fit have all agreed to move to one of our other community assets within the village such as our Methodist or Anglican churches.
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