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 Liverpool has confirmed its film friendly status by enabling Channel Four and Oxford Film and Television to film Bradford Riots, a TV feature exploring the aftermath of the rioting that took place in Bradford.
 Writer/Director Neil Biswas spent two years amongst Bradford's Asian community researching the film. Bradford Riots tells the story of Karim, a young Pakistani student, his family and community in the aftermath of the disturbances, which took place in Bradford in July 2001. The police conducted a search for those present on an unprecedented scale, which resulted in large numbers of young Pakistani men being given prison sentences, the harshest and most widespread for public disorder since the Second World War.
The sensitive nature of the film, especially following the tragedy of the London bombings in July 2005, and the disruption likely to be created to enable a three-day riot scene to be filmed, made it difficult to find a suitable location for the shoot.
Support and encouragement from North West Vision's Liverpool Film Office, Liverpool City Council, and Liverpool based LA Productions, meant that the production settled on locating in Liverpool, which us the 2008 Capital of Culture. Altogether, £500,000 was spent in the city during the three weeks of shooting, a huge benefit for the Merseyside economy.
"Support from Liverpool City Council, the Liverpool Film Office and the Merseyside police was crucial in achieving a difficult shoot at a very sensitive time, “ said the film's producer, Nicolas Brown. “I was hugely impressed by the attitude of all those organisations and individuals who helped us and thank them all for making my job much easier."
The project was a real bonus to the Merseyside economy, as Lynn Saunders, Liverpool Film Office manager, explains.
 "This was a sensitive project, but by working with partner organisations and the local community we were able to ensure that filming went smoothly,” she said. “The production team used local crew and facilities wherever possible, benefiting local businesses and helping sustain jobs locally.”
Attracting as many film and TV productions to the city is a deliberate policy, because the city knows the resulting benefits are so great.
“Liverpool has an ambition to be the most film-friendly city in the country, “ Lynn Saunders says. “We do all we can to make the production process as easy as possible, because we recognise the important contribution the industry can make to the local economy. Thousands of people are employed in film and TV related careers across Merseyside, and attracting large scale producers such as Channel 4 creates huge opportunities for them."
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