Heights... camera, action!

Local landscape’s a film favourite — and we’ve scene it all before!

film-friendly Saddleworth and Oldham helped to boost the North-West economy by £45million last year.

TV heart-throb Max Beesley and beautiful Zoe Tapper were the latest to be filmed in the borough for high-profile productions.

They were pictured at Heights Chapel in Delph in September as the BBC used the deserted churchyard for an episode of “Survivors”.

There were 526 film productions in the North-West last year, according to North-West Vision Media.

Spokeswoman Susan Williams said: “A total of £45million is staggering at a time when some areas have had a downturn in filming figures.

“Oldham has a very good reputation for film-friendliness, where people will turn things round very quickly. All location managers always report back that it was a great place and everyone was very helpful, such as the council and local police.”

Oldham also features in North-West Vision Media’s location library, particularly for old mills, houses, reservoirs and moorland, which producers can dip into for the perfect setting for their creations.

The borough has always had its share of star scenery in movies and TV series.

In 2007, Heights was also featured in chilling ITV drama “Cold Blood” starring Matthew Kelly, using the deserted church’s interior.

Bafta award-winning “See No Evil” about the Moors Murderers, starring Maxine Peake and Sean Harris, was filmed above Saddleworth in 2006 for the 40th anniversary of the trial of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady.

The Royal Oldham Hospital’s new pathology laboratory and parts of Delph were used by ITV for the 2005 drama series “Eleventh Hour”, with former “Star Trek” star Patrick Stewart.

Saddleworth Moors became “Wuthering Heights” for Cliff Richard’s 1997 musical feature film of the Emily Bronte novel. In 1996, the interior of the Granville Mill at Derker was used for sci-fi thriller “The Waiting Room”.

And who could forget “Brassed Off” in 1995, filmed during the Whit Friday Band Contests in Delph and Uppermill, starring Ewan McGregor and Tara Fitzgerald? There was “Yanks” too in Dobcross with Richard Gere back in 1978.

Dame Edith Evans came to Oldham in 1966 to star in “The Whisperers”, Bryan Forbes’ study of lonely old age, shot partly in Napier Street East and Fitton Hill.

But film buffs would have to go a long way to beat the Oldham locations used in the black and white 1960 film-noir “Hell is a City” starring Stanley Baker and Billie Whitelaw.

Oldham Edge, Rivington Street, Wallshaw Street and Henshaw Street all featured, with panoramic shots from the Edge looking over the mills in Shaw.