TELLY star Robson Green says filming on his home territory can be murder for his social life.
Robson, 42, has returned to his roots to shoot the sixth series of the hard-hitting drama Wire In The Blood, which sees a variety of locations — including Ravensworth Castle, Northumberland, Newcastle and Gateshead — doubling for the show’s fictional town of Bradfield.
The actor — whose company Coastal Productions makes the show — will be filming scenes right up until the end of March, but he says he is so busy on the shoot that he doesn’t have time to paint the town red. Instead, he spends the spare time he does have with close friends and family.
He said: “I still have a house up here, so I do come back regularly.
“The truth about a filming schedule is that it is early starts on cold frosty mornings and late finishes.
“If I am not learning lines that night, or it’s not an early start, I make sure I see family and close friends, and we all get together for dinner.”
The show sees Robson play psychological profiler Doctor Tony Hill, an expert with the uncanny ability to crack cases by seeing into the minds of murderers, who works closely with cop Alex Fielding, played by Simone Lahbib.
The latest series, which comprises four two-hour episodes, sees the pair join forces to hunt the men — or women — responsible for a catalogue of horrific killings.
Robson, who grew up in Dudley, North Tyneside, set up Coastal Productions in 1997 with business partner Sandra Jobling, with a view to making North-based films and TV dramas, and he said his mission has not changed in 11 years.
He said: “Whenever I can, I try and base the series in the North East. It depends if the series is made by my own company and, if it is, then I always have the choice.
“It’s always a good feeling to come back to Newcastle.
“We cast a lot of Northern actors, as Bradfield is a fictional Northern town, so we do use a lot of actors from the North, but not necessarily concentrating on the North East because of the storylines and setting.”
V The thrillers are to be broadcast by ITV1 in September.
