Starring in Yorkshire

COMING soon to a theatre near you - Yorkshire: The Movie. You'll swoon at the dramatic sweep of the dales. Laugh at Goathland's Greengrass. Cry at the romance of Castle Howard. And gasp at Whitby's cliffhanger ending.

An all-star cast, including Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow, Richard Attenborough, Bob Hoskins, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Ecclestone, Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud has been assembled to tell the Yorkshire story. The people, the places, the puddings. Certificate PG.

Yorkshire is becoming used to the Hollywood treatment. There was a time when the sometimes bleak, sometimes lush, always wondrous beauty of Yorkshire was a closely-guarded secret. Not any more. Thanks to the hungry lenses of the film and television crews, much of the region is now familiar to a nationwide, even a worldwide, audience.

Instead of having to fly to Los Angeles to rub shoulders with the stars, the stars are flying into Leeds-Bradford airport to rub shoulders with us.

The latest luminaries tipped to make an appearance Tyke-side are Gwyneth Paltrow and Sean Connery. Tinsel town gossip suggests this glittering pair have landed leading roles in the film adaptation of AS Byatt's novel Possession. Scenes from the movie are likely to be filmed at Pickering railway station.

Similarly, parts of the first Harry Potter film are to be shot on the North Yorkshire Moors railway, giving us another opportunity for a date with the stars.

When fictional wizard Harry Potter rolls into Goathland on the Hogwarts Express, he will be sprinkling a little of his magic dust on North Yorkshire.

Just look at The Railway Children. It was filmed on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway 30 years ago, doubling passenger numbers on the railway in its wake. Even now the line is still riding on the back of the movie.

Goathland is used to being in the spotlight, of course. Visitors have flocked there since it became the backdrop for Sunday night TV serial Heartbeat.

The series, based on the Constable books by former police inspector Peter Walker, enjoys the perfect combination of Sixties nostalgia and the North York Moors.

Goathland underwent a makeover to play its part. Telly technicians covered over road markings, moved modern cars and altered signs until it was transformed into mid-Sixties Aidensfield.

Most of the residents have been happy to become a part of the TV success story. And the hugely successful series has certainly boosted the local economy. Businesses including the village store, which sells Heartbeat memorabilia, and local pubs that serve hungry and thirsty day-trippers, have benefited.

One television series did more than any other to boost North Yorkshire's profile worldwide. Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud and Jeremy Irons were among the remarkable cast of Brideshead Revisited. When it came to recreating the exquisite atmosphere of Evelyn Waugh's novel on film, Castle Howard was the perfect choice.

The saga of Sebastian Flyte, Lord Marchmain and their privileged friends was an immediate small screen hit, providing just the boost the struggling stately home needed.

Tourists flocked to Castle Howard, bringing with them much-needed income. Many came from America and Japan, where the TV series had become a huge hit.

Soon the foreign visitors were asking staff questions such as "How do you deal with Sebastian when he's drunk?" Or "What is Lord Marchmain like to work for?"

Other Yorkshire-based telly series that made an indelible impression on the public include All Creatures Great And Small, based on the James Herriot books, and starring Christopher Timothy as the young vet and Thirsk as fictional Darrowby; Last Of The Summer Wine, the long-running comedy which draws thousands to Holmfirth in search of a glimpse of Nora Batty's stockings; and Emmerdale, originally filmed at Lindley Farm in Leathley, near Harrogate, and now shot on a purpose-built set at Harewood.

But it takes a big screen to best portray this big county. And movie stars are making regular pilgrimages to shoot their stories in our green and pleasant land.

Ted Danson, frisky Sam Malone in US TV sitcom Cheers, proved to be charm personified when he dropped in at York Railway Station in 1994. He climbed aboard The Royal Scotsman to pose for pictures while in the middle of filming Loch Ness.

British-made superstar Sir Michael Caine came to Scarborough to head the cast of Little Voice. According to the picture's director, York film-maker Mark Herman, Sir Michael rang up and asked for the part of sleazy, small-time talent agent Ray Say. He was probably desperate to get a lung-full of that bracing Scarborough sea air.

However, it was Jane Horrocks who stole the show as the reclusive girl who could sing like the stars.

Caine's old mate Bob Hoskins followed him on to the East Coast when he took the title role in Captain Jack. The £4 million movie was inspired by former postman Jack Lammiman's 3,000-mile trip to the Arctic in his boat the Helga Maria in 1991, and was filmed in Whitby.

York, too, has played its part in recent film history - although few moviegoers would even notice. The coronation scene of Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett as the Virgin Queen, Christopher Ecclestone and Sir Richard Attenborough, was shot in York Minster. Months later, computer wizards transformed the modern Minster into Westminster Abbey, circa 1558.

You can see the results on Sunday, when Elizabeth is broadcast on Channel Four at 9pm. Just another screen outing for Yorkshire - home of the stars.

PICTURE: LEFT: York Minster was used for the coronation scenes in Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett; RIGHT: Castle Howard was the setting for the TV series Brideshead Revisited