01 / Introduction 

Hollywood has traditionally been seen as the epicentre of the global film industry, with studios and post-production facilities that hark back to the Golden Age of cinema.  

The UK also has a significant filmmaking heritage, stretching back well over a century. BBC Elstree Centre, Elstree Studios and Ealing Studios were first established in the early 1900s, while Pinewood and Shepperton Studios ushered in large-scale international productions in the post-war period. All remain key filmmaking sites today. 

UK film studios remain a growth market, steadily emerging post-pandemic as a global productivity forerunner. Over the past five years, filming in the UK has risen 11% year-over-year. 

The benefits of a thriving film production industry to the UK economy are significant. The British Film Institute’s research and statistics unit says that film and high-end TV (HETV) production spend in the UK was £6.8bn in 2024, up 22% on 2024. The lion’s share of the total production spend was contributed by HETV shows, at £4bn. Feature film production contributed £2.8bn, or 41% of the total spend, the highest annual spend on record.

Premium film and TV serve as key catalysts for inward investment into the UK: international film and HETV productions delivered £5.8bn of the £6.8bn total investment in 2025. There are also knock-on boosts to tourism and brand promotion, all making a clear economic case for establishing the UK as the centre of international film and TV production.

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