BRADFORD is looking at a bumper year for film and TV production, with enquiries to the City of Film office “off the scale” right now.

The director of Bradford City of Film, David Wilson, says the team is receiving “unprecedented levels of filming requests” for coming months.

Films due for release in 2022 include The Railway Children Return, shot in Haworth and on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway; The Duke, filmed in Bradford’s Cartwright Hall, City Hall, Little Germany and Cannon Mills, and Ali & Ava, shot largely on Holme Wood estate. Season two of Netflix hit series The Witcher, which had scenes shot on Ilkley Moor, drops today and the new series of Gentleman Jack, filmed in Haworth, Saltaire and Bingley, is due on TV next spring.

With plenty of enquiries coming in to Bradford’s Film Office, there looks set to be more big productions filming here in 2022.

This week the British Film Institute revealed that film and TV production has reached a new high following a pandemic slump, with around £4.14bn spent filming British and foreign shows like Bridgerton and Peaky Blinders in the UK between October 2020 and September 2021.

David Wilson said: “The latest BFI figures come as no surprise as we continue to receive unprecedented levels of filming requests at Bradford Film Office. We’re certainly experiencing a boom in Bradford.

“There are some amazing and very varied productions to look forward to in coming months which have used locations across the Bradford district. Film-makers continue to return to Bradford for its stunning locations and because of the city’s film friendly reputation. Productions are staying here for longer and opportunities for the local supply chain, such as hotels and crew, are increasing. We have witnessed a steady flurry of enquiries in recent weeks which will keep the film office team very busy into the coming year.”

Here’s a look at productions coming up that were filmed here:

* The Witcher Netflix: Fantasy series about a travelling monster hunter, played by Superman actor Henry Cavill. The first season was a huge Netflix hit, viewed by around 76 million households in the first four weeks it aired.

* The Duke: Based on the real-life case of a taxi driver who stole a priceless portrait from the National Gallery, the film was shot in Bradford late 2019 and early 2020. Set in 1961, it’s the story of 60-year-old Kempton Bunton, played by Jim Broadbent, who stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington. Dame Helen Mirren plays Kempton’s wife, Dorothy. Police suspect a criminal gang, then Kempton starts sending ransom notes declaring that he will only return the painting if the Government invests in care for the elderly.

City centre locations were transformed into 1960s settings, including Upper Piccadilly, turned into a row of shops with a fashion boutique and tie shop. The City of Film team worked with producers on locations and involving students from the University of Bradford and Bradford College behind the scenes. Due out on February 25, 2022

*The Railway Children Return: The sequel to 1970 film The Railway Children was filmed this year across the Worth Valley. Set in the Second World War, it stars Jenny Agutter, reprising her role as Bobbie, Sheridan Smith and Tom Courtenay.

Jenny Agutter said the sequel pays tribute to the original book by Edith Nesbit: “I love the idea of returning to it...and I think that Nesbit would have really liked the idea of that continuity.”

Reflecting on re-visiting the original set of Three Chimneys house and Oakworth Station, she added: “Filming meant going back to the station and just enjoying that sense of time having gone by, but also the sense that time almost doesn’t go by because it certainly stands still on that station. I met one of the drivers who’d driven one of the trains in the Lionel Jeffries film. He seemed as youthful as when we were there before but he had a 41-year-old daughter, now one of the engine drivers on that line. She wasn’t even born when we did the film.” The expected release date is April 1, 2022.

*Ali & Ava: A contemporary love story spanning age, class, race and cultural divides, shot in Holme Wood, Undercliffe Cemetery, Bradford Cathedral grounds, Laisterdyke and Tong, with local people in cast and crew. It was a hit at the Cannes Film Festival in July and had a northern premiere in Bradford in October.

Written and directed by Bafta-nominated Clio Barnard, Ali & Ava is about a middle-aged grandmother from an Irish-Catholic family who meets a younger Asian man; a DJ struggling with the breakdown of his marriage. The cast includes Bradford actors Natalie Gavin and Shaun Thomas, while students from the University of Bradford worked with the crew.

Bradford City of Film team helped to find filming locations and production offices. Due in cinemas on March 4, 2022.

* Gentleman Jack: Second series of Sally Wainwright’s hit drama starring Suranne Jones as 19th century landowner Anne Lister. Scenes were shot earlier this year on Haworth moor and over summer at Bingley and Saltaire, where part of the Salts Mill complex was turned into a Victorian street. The series also stars Peaky Blinders actress Sophie Rundle and Bradford-born actor Timothy West. The new series due on TV in April 2022.

* To catch up on film and TV locations districtwide get the Bradford Film Heritage app at bradfordfilmheritage.com