Search
08 Sept 2025
Search
08 Sept 2025
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
The Prime Minister and the Chancellor turned the tables on the media and got behind the TV cameras during a visit to promote a multimillion-pound project to develop one of Europe’s largest film-making complexes.
They were at the media centre at Sunderland University to talk about the development of the nearby Crown Works Studios, a brownfield site on the banks of the River Wear, which could employ 8,000 people.
At last week’s Budget, the Chancellor announced £37 million of Government grants plus new fundraising powers which will enable the North East Mayoral Combined Authority (Nemca) to deliver the regeneration project.
Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt toured a studio at the university where students learn the craft of making TV.
They were behind the cameras while two students discussed the upcoming studio development, with one, Issac Jukes, expressing excitement at the idea of stars coming to make films on Wearside.
The student said: “Tom Cruise in the middle of Sunderland, it’s going to be mental.”
Mr Sunak said: “It’s very nice to watch someone else being interviewed, I really enjoyed that, it was great.”
They also visited a TV gallery to watch how the pictures could be mixed.
The two senior Tories then chatted in the Spark radio studio where they recorded an indent for the student-run community station.
Mr Sunak was asked to re-record his message, saying: “Hello Sunderland, this is the Prime Minister Rishi, and you are listening to Spark.”
After he did his recording first time, Mr Hunt joked: “What’s the fee?”
The Crown Works Studios is a joint venture between Fulwell 73 and Cain International, known as FulwellCain, will see the partners invest £450 million into the project.
Nemca will designate the site as a “growth zone” allowing Sunderland City Council to retain 100% of business rate growth for the next 25 years.
It is expected to attract major films and high-end TV series to be made in the North East, bringing in millions of pounds of investment annually.
The region has seen Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and Transformers movies filmed there already on location.
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
