Movers and shakers on the Bradford property scene today saw for the first time the showbiz techniques being used to woo hundreds of house-hunting civil servants to the district.

They watched a preview of a new film starring TV property expert Kirstie Allsopp, which shows-off the benefits of living in the heart of West Yorkshire.

Bradford Council commissioned the 15-minute documentary - based on Kirstie's Channel Four programme Relocation, Relocation - as a way of attracting some of the 20,000 civil service jobs being moved from London to the regions. About 100 developers and investors were given a private screening at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television.

And each was given a copy of the DVD to take home, while hundreds more are due to be mailed out to public and private sector bodies.

Next month, the film will be shown to its target audience of civil servants during a major promotional trip to London.

In it, Miss Allsopp describes Bradford's trading history and tours its architectural legacy including some of the city centre's listed buildings and Little Germany - which she describes as "unique in Britain".

She praises the sympathetic conversions of mill buildings, and describes the house prices, which include a two bedroom apartment for £150,000, as "an absolute steal".

Martin van-Zeller, of Bradford Council's public sector jobs team, said: "This is a bit of a first - I don't think anybody else has done anything like this with Kirstie.

"The Bradford we know is there on the DVD it just sometimes takes someone from outside to help us see it.

"We have been very pleasantly surprised by the people who wanted to come today for a 15-minute programme - many are from Leeds. But the target audience for this is senior civil servants who are having to make the tough decisions about moving their departments out of London. We want them to come to Bradford."

Key decisions will be made over the next five years with some initial announcements expected as early as March.

Mr van-Zeller said: "We want 1,000 of those jobs and we have every expectation we will meet that target."

Key figures from developers Urban Splash are interviewed in the film, with its chairman Tom Bloxam describing his company's Lister's Mill conversion as "one of the best schemes we have ever done".

He added: "There is a great opportunity and a great stock of fantastic buildings here and it is still great value. I think we will see more development in Bradford."

The film, which may soon be available to view in Bradford's libraries, then views examples of properties available elsewhere in the district including Saltaire, East Morton, Bingley, Ilkley and Burley Woodhead.