Peaky Blinders and The Cadburys make the region the UK's top filming location

Film and television companies spent more in the region around Birmingham than anywhere else in the country in the first part of this year, and the Mayor, Richard Parker, has opened a new fund to bring more productions here.

According to Filming in England figures, productions spent £15.5 million in the first quarter of 2026, almost 40 per cent of the industry's total spend across the country during that period. The homecoming of Peaky Blinders, the relocation of the long-running Silent Witness and the filming of Bollywood blockbusters all contributed.

The Cadburys

Filming has just finished on The Cadburys, a six-part drama about the chocolate-making family whose ambition, innovation and values helped shape 19th-century Birmingham. It will be screened on U and UDRAMA in 2027. The cast includes three actors from Birmingham, and the crew includes local people.

The new series of Peaky Blinders was filmed locally with support from Production Central, the region's film and TV office, which also helped The Cadburys film in Birmingham, the city at the heart of its story.

New funds

Speaking at the region's Growth Summit on Thursday 8 October, the Mayor opened a new Content Production Fund to help producers and directors bring more TV dramas and films to the area, alongside a third round of the IP Content Fund, run with Creative UK.

The IP Content Fund has already supported 25 TV, film and digital projects in the past two years, including a 21st-century reboot of the children's classic Bagpuss by Birmingham-based Threewise Entertainment, and the BBC cosy crime drama The Hairdresser Mysteries, made by Birmingham's Mill Bay Media.

The Mayor said regional partners would unlock £100 million for the creative industries, to create jobs, improve skills and build more studio space and homes.

"These are our stories"

"I've been on set at Peaky Blinders and The Cadburys and seen for myself the positive impact our investment in this sector is already having," Mr Parker said. "I've met local people in their first jobs and others working here for the first time in their careers."

"These are our stories and it's thanks to our new film and TV office that we're telling them. With these new funds more people will get the opportunities they need to build an exciting career here rather than having to leave."

An industry worth almost £4bn

The Mayor said the region's creative industries are already worth almost £4 billion a year, with around 13,700 businesses supporting 38,000 jobs. Productions this year have provided hundreds of days of skilled work for technical crews, make-up artists, and costume and set designers.

Tourism benefits too, through "set-jetting", in which visitors travel to places they have seen on screen. Peaky Blinders has already drawn fans from around the world to the Black Country Living Museum and to Digbeth, where Steven Knight's Digbeth Loc Studios has been chosen this week to lead a £35 million creative neighbourhood on Fazeley Street.