If all else fails we can usually rely on a little Plasticine man and his dog to bring home an Oscar, but this year the Brits turned out to be the big guns, with The King’s Speech winning top awards.

With a crucial scene filmed in Bradford, featuring local extras, and special effects and props supplied by several local companies, we can be forgiven for claiming a piece of what has become the highest-grossing UK independent film of all time.

For the soon-to-be-disbanded UK Film Council, which awarded The King’s Speech £1 million of Lottery funding, its Oscars success is bittersweet.

Producers say that without Film Council investment, the film would never have been made. Sadly, its extraordinary success has come too late to save the organisation.

The film is said to have made £156 million so far at the box office worldwide. All Film Council investment now stands to be recouped, plus net profits, which will be reinvested in the British film industry.

That’s quite a ‘dowry’ for when the film fund is handed over to the British Film Institute.

Since its creation in 2000, the UK Film Council has supported more than 900 films including The Arbor, Otley director Clio Barnard’s Bafta-nominated drama/documentary about Buttershaw playwright Andrea Dunbar; West Is West, starring young Bradford actor Aqib Khan; and Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights.

With such an impressive track record, and a lucrative system already in place, you have to wonder at the Coalition Government’s decision to fix something that ain’t broke.

While the controversial move to scrap the UK Film Council continues to prompt debate – Colin Firth called it “shortsighted” as he clutched his Oscar at Sunday night’s ceremony – what’s done is done.

Bradford, as the world’s first City of Film, should now be looking ahead and addressing how to make the most of the replacement body.

Under the new structure, the UK’s regional film agencies, including Screen Yorkshire, will be replaced with Creative England, comprising Creative North, Central and South. The first stage got under way yesterday with the launch of consultation on a draft film strategy.

While our City of Film team has been hopeful of a West Yorkshire home, maybe even in Bradford, it looks as though Creative North will end up in Manchester.

It’s going to be a transitional year for the North’s media, film and digital sector. Let’s hope that Bradford, as a film-making hub, continues to benefit from the new structure just as it has from Screen Yorkshire-supported productions such as The King’s Speech and South Riding.