A NEW series of Sharpe, the top-rated action adventure series starring heart-throb actor Sean Bean, is to be filmed in East Lancashire.

Producers from the series plan to film at Helmshore Textile Museum and in Bacup as part of a five-week shoot in Lancashire during October.

And the production is only part of a series of "shoots" which are showing that the county is an ideal location for filmmakers. East Lancashire Railway, which runs steam trains in the Rossendale Valley, has been used in a variety of different TV programmes including the popular series Cracker.

Pensioner detective Hetty Wainthropp has also been sleuthing in the Valley, as well as Darwen and Accrington, while the acclaimed Preston Front has been filmed all over East Lancashire. To cash in on the area's film boom, Rossendale Council is working with the newly-created Lancashire County Television and Film Unit which exists to attract film companies to the area. A meeting will be held on July 18 to bring together firms and organisations who could benefit from filming.

David Nelson, director of the Film and TV Unit, said: "There will be 70 people in the Sharpe crew so apart from publicity for the area they could also be spending quite a bit of money in the valley."

The meeting will be for hotels, guest houses, car hire and taxi firms, caterers, the railway, costume shops, lighting firms, farmers and theatrical groups.

Rossendale Council leader Coun John McManus said:" It is an industry we could attract."

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