Edinburgh to be backdrop for new BBC comedy series

EDINBURGH has landed another major boost as a film and television location after the BBC confirmed it has started filming a major new sitcom in the capital.

BBC Three show Pram Face is being shot entirely in the capital and is already being compared to the hit series Gavin and Stacey.

The six-part series, currently being filmed in the upmarket Grange suburb, follows a pair of teenagers forced to grow up suddenly when one of them falls pregnant after a drunken encounter at a party.

Scarlett Alice Johnson, who played Vicki Fowler in East- Enders, will star as 18-year-old Laura in the series, which will cover the duration of her pregnancy. Her co-star is Sean Verey, best known for his role in Skins. He has also appeared in The Bill, Casualty and Half Moon Investigations. He plays 16-year-old Jamie in the show, which is expected to be broadcast across the UK later this year.

Co-stars include Anna Chancellor, who shot to fame in Four Weddings and a Funeral and later starred in Spooks, and Angus Deayton, former host of Have I Got News For You and star of One Foot in the Grave. The pair will be playing Laura's beleaguered parents.

Although not entirely set in Edinburgh, much of the plot unfolds when Laura is at Edinburgh University, where location filming got under way last week and is due to continue well into July.

Pram Face is being shot in the city just months after actor Jason Isaacs filmed six-part drama series Case Histories in locations across the capital.

Major film productions shot in Edinburgh recently, and still awaiting release, include The Awakening, with Dominic West, and One Day, which stars Anne Hathaway.

Producers of Pram Face say the series will show the two characters "trying and frequently failing to make the trip from childhood to parenthood".

A spokesman for BBC Three said: "After completing their exams, 16-year-old Jamie and 18-year-old Laura meet at a sixth form party, and following a particularly drunken encounter they are left facing responsibility when Laura discovers she is pregnant.

"The series touches on some of the big moments and big decisions that they both face across those nine all-important months."

Ros Davis, spokeswoman for Edinburgh Film Focus, which helps attract television and film productions to the city, said: "The added benefit of attracting productions such as this is not only do they spend a lot of money while they are filming and employ local crew and services, but these productions will showcase locations and raise the profile of our beautiful city for years to come, both in the UK and internationally.

"With productions such as Pram Face we know they could film anywhere in the UK, as it is a character-driven piece. So Edinburgh's reputation as a 'film-friendly' place to base is vital if we are to attract more of this kind of project. It is a highly competitive market."