Media office

Birmingham rolled out the red carpet to welcome the BBC Holiday Programme to town last week, with the team visiting the city to film a feature for the primetime show fronted by Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen.

Marketing Birmingham has been liaising with the BBC on this project since early 2006 and visited producers in London last year, as well as hosting a familiarisation trip in Birmingham this month to develop a three day itinerary for filming.

The itinerary took in the following attractions, to best showcase the wide range of facilities that the city has to offer to visitors:

• Bullring and Bullring markets
• Selfridges
• St Martin’s Church
• St Philip’s Cathedral
• The Jewellery Quarter
• Brindleyplace
• The Mailbox
• Barber Institute of Fine Arts
• Brand new restaurant Asha
• The gondola in conjunction with Don Salvo restaurant
• Victoria Square
• Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
• Singer’s Hill Synagogue
• Back to Back housing

Laurence specifically requested to stay at the Radisson SAS Birmingham.

The programme will be aired on Wednesday 14th February at 7.00pm on BBC1 and will focus on the renaissance of Birmingham and how it has become a true competitor in the city break market.

Dave Hodgson, Marketing Director at Marketing Birmingham said:  “The BBC Holiday programme is a flagship show for the channel and one of the UK’s best known travel programmes.  The fact that they have chosen to recommend Birmingham as a destination is a fantastic endorsement and projects a snapshot of the city into the homes of millions of people around the country.

“We are thrilled that twelve months of hard work has paid off and the feedback we’ve received from all involved with the show has been extremely positive.”

When interviewed by a local newspaper during filming, Laurence compared Birmingham to Paris, Rome and other ‘cultural capitals’, and said the city is ‘coming into its own’… is ‘interesting, fascinating and culturally very dense.’

Watch Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen being interviewed about Birmingham.