YORK needs its own Inspector Morse to attract American visitors to the city, according to former BBC director general Greg Dyke.

Praising its beauty and culture, Mr Dyke described York as the “Dubrovnik of the North” and said the city should do all it could to market itself through television drama.

The former University of York graduate was speaking to key players in the tourism industry who had gathered for the first annual general meeting of Visit York, the city’s official tourist body.

Addressing the crowd at the National Early Music Centre, off Walmgate, he said that while attending a recent television and theatre gathering in New York, Mr Greg had been shocked at how many of the stars he met knew nothing of York.

“If you think about York itself, it’s quite a stunning city but how many people know about the riches of it?” he asked.

“I’m certain that one of the reasons the university has become so popular is because of what York has to offer – history and culture by the bucketful.

“How do we sell York to the world? We have to look at the relationship between cities and television.”

Mr Greg went on to point out what the Inspector Morse television series had done for Oxford and how children’s television show Balamory had brought visitors to Tobermory and Mull.

“Even Emmerdale has brought visitors to the North and the Yorkshire Dales,” he said.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the 21st century is the era of the moving image. Television and the moving image are going to be the means of education and leisure.

“So why not look at basing a drama or kids television show here? It’s a definite way of creating an image for a region or a city,” he said.

The gathering also saw a report from Visit York chairman John Yeomans, who said that investment in the city was “vital in order to compete on the world stage”.

He said: “Several exciting plans are in the pipeline, including a brand new state-of-the-art visitor information centre.”


Fact file

A NUMBER of major films and TV dramas have been filmed in York and North Yorkshire over the past decade, in addition to Brideshead Revisited at Castle Howard.

Stars such as Sean Bean, Sam Neill and Joss Ackland arrived in York earlier this year for the filming of a multi-million pound Robinson Crusoe television series.

Last year, Newby Hall in Ripon was used as the location for the filming of a new adaptation of Austen's 1814 novel Mansfield Park, featuring former Dr Who star Billie Piper in the leading role.

A decade ago, York Minster was used for the coronation of Elizabeth I in the film Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett.

Goathland and other villages on the North York Moors have long been the setting for ITV's drama Heartbeat.