West Midlands starting to see This Town tourism boost

The show's final episode was broadcast on BBC1 on Sunday, April 28 but it will be returning for a second series.

Coventry Music Museum has already seeing an increase in visitor following the first series about the Two-Tone music movement.

Star Levi Brown was brought up in Halesowen where he attended Windsor High School. He plays Dante Williams.

Scenes in the drama were filmed at some locations in the Black country including Hateley Heath, West Bromwich; the M5 and M6 bridges near Tame Bridge Parkway, Wednesbury; Skinner Street, Wolverhampton and Walsall.

Cast members from This Town attended a one-off BBC Radio WM event celebrating Two-Tone in Birmingham with special guests and live performances at the O2 Institute in Digbeth, Birmingham on Thursday, May 2.

Culture, music, and television professionals expect to see a significant increase in tourism for Birmingham and Coventry following the broadcast of the prime-time six-episode drama.

They predict increased domestic and international visitors to key music and filming locations in the region.

BBC WM Celebrates 2-Tone in Birmingham explored the impact of the global music phenomenon through a series of on-stage interviews with key figures from the worlds of music and television, alongside live performances.

There was a headline set from The Beat featuring Ranking Junior, a performance from BBC Introducing-supported act Lobster and DJ sets from Mazzy Snape

It was hosted by broadcaster and journalist Adrian Goldberg and saw Horace Pante of The Specials and Pauline Black of The Selecter sharing their experiences and memories of Two-Tone in the late 70s and early 80s. This Town's assistant costume designer Mark Almond also spoke about his work on the programme.

The evening, marking around 45 years since The Specials, The Selecter and The Beat broke through and established Coventry and Birmingham as the epicentre of the Two-Tone movement, was recorded for a one-hour special to be broadcast on BBC Radio WM tonight at 6pm.

Pete Chambers, curator-director of the Coventry Music Museum and consultant for This Town, said: “As soon as the Steven Knight drama This Town hit the TV screen The Coventry Music Museum was inundated with visitors looking for the real roots of Two-Tone music and our This Town Exhibition.

“At last the West Midlands is finally flexing its musical muscle thanks to This Town.

“It's a fantastic moment to show the world how much we have to offer.”

Mark Almond – who hails from Newtown in Birmingham – has contributed to renowned film and TV productions such as Masters of the Air, Mission Impossible, and Dunkirk. He said, “Working on a production so focussed on telling the story of our cities, people, and history was a genuinely memorable experience.

“To have a major drama not only about 1980s Birmingham and Coventry but shot here using local talent is surely a sign of confidence in the Midlands screen industries."

He added: “We’re sure that This Town will trigger another ‘Peaky Blinders effect’ which will see tourists from domestic and international markets visit the locations we worked in, and look forward to local authorities and the creative industries capitalising on the interest.”

The predictions follow interviews with This Town creator Steven Knight, who told journalists recently that it is now the turn of Birmingham and Coventry as European cities to bang the drum and tell their story, with This Town playing a key role in showcasing the two West Midlands hotspots.