page_title: Middlesbrough
section_title: Television and filmography
hierarchical_section_title: Middlesbrough / Television and filmography
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: 1776: James Cook English: Official portrait of Captain James Cook Suomi: Kapteeni James Cookin virallinen muotokuva. National Maritime Museum, Yhdistynyt kuningaskunta. Français&#160;: James Cook par Nathaniel Dance. Italiano: Ritratto di James Cook 日本語: クックの公式肖像画　海軍博物館（ロンドン）所蔵 Nederlands: James Cook na zijn terugkeer van zijn tweede expeditie in de Stille Zuidzee Polski: Kapitan James Cook Català: Retrat de l'explorador britànic James Cook Lietuvių: Džeimso Kuko portretas 中文: 庫克船長畫像。現存於英國海事博物館。 Русский: Портрет Дж. Кука, 25 май 1776 года. Художник Натаниэл Дэнс Gagana Samoa: Ata o James Cook, 25 Me, 1776. (le tusiata o Nathaniel Dance) Čeština: Kapitán James Cook, 25. května 1776. (oficiální portrét) Español: Retrato oficial de James Cook
context_page_description: Middlesbrough is a large post-industrial town in North Yorkshire, England. The local council, a unitary authority, is Middlesbrough Council. The 2011 Census recorded the borough's total resident population as 138,400 and the wider urban settlement as 174,700, making it the largest settlement within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire. Middlesbrough is part of the larger built-up area of Teesside, which had an overall population of 376,333 at the 2011 Census.
  Middlesbrough became a county borough within the North Riding of Yorkshire in 1889. In 1968 the borough was merged with a number of others to form the County Borough of Teesside, which was absorbed in 1974 by the county of Cleveland. In 1996 Cleveland was abolished, and Middlesbrough Borough Council became a unitary authority within the county of North Yorkshire. Erimus was chosen as Middlesbrough's motto in 1830. It recalls Fuimus the motto of the Norman/Scottish Bruce family, who were lords of Cleveland in the Middle Ages. The town's coat of arms is an azure lion, from the arms of the Bruce family, a star, from the arms of Captain James Cook, and two ships, representing shipbuilding and maritime trade.
context_section_description: Middlesbrough has featured in many television programmes, including The Fast Show, Inspector George Gently, Steel River Blues, Spender, Play for Today (The Black Stuff; latterly the drama Boys from the Blackstuff) and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.
  Film director Ridley Scott is from the North East and based the opening shot of Blade Runner on the view of the old ICI plant at Wilton. He said: “There’s a walk from Redcar … I’d cross a bridge at night, and walk above the steel works. So that’s probably where the opening of Blade Runner comes from. It always seemed to be rather gloomy and raining, and I’d just think “God, this is beautiful.” You can find beauty in everything, and so I think I found the beauty in that darkness.” It has been claimed that the site was also considered as a shooting location for one of the films in Scott's Alien franchise.
  Some of the film Billy Elliot was filmed on the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge.
  In the 2009 action thriller The Tournament Middlesbrough is that year's location where the assassins' competition is being held.
  In November 2009, the MiMA art gallery was used by the presenters of Top Gear as part of a challenge. The challenge was to see if car exhibits would be more popular than normal art.
  In March 2013, Middlesbrough was used as a stand in for Newcastle 1969 in BBC's Inspector George Gently starring Martin Shaw and Lee Ingleby; the footage appeared in the episode "Gently Between The Lines" (episode 1 of series 6).
  In 2010, filmmaker John Walsh made the satirical documentary ToryBoy The Movie about the 2010 general election in the Middlesbrough constituency and sitting MP Stuart Bell's alleged laziness as an MP.
caption: Captain James Cook, portrait by Nathaniel Dance, c. 1775, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
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