STUNNING views of Bolton have been compared to New York and Paris by a television producer who is putting the town on screens across the globe.

Phil Collinson, producer of prime-time television drama Bancroft — which premiered on Monday — told how he deliberately chose the town as the location for the four-part series.

The series, starring Sarah Parish, opened with a dramatic aerial shot of Le Mans Crescent and the town hall clock, with filming took place inside and outside the historic buildings over the summer.

Mr Collinson said: “We didn’t want this to feel like every other police show you watch. We looked at film noir and some American influences. And so we went to Bolton very deliberately. Bolton has an incredible Victorian crescent, town hall and civic centre. It really feels like Paris or New York around there with the old cobbled streets and big sandstone buildings.

“Then once you get inside there are long marble corridors and great big open spaces.

“The CID office is a large old room with pillars in it. Lots of old, dark wood. We tried to make it feel like the present inhabiting locations with lots of history bearing down on them.

“So this modern world is crashing together with the past. A sense the past is around you all the time. A happy by-product of that was we got really handsome locations. The whole things feels special. Steeped in history.

He added: “The locations are a big star of this show and really important to the atmosphere of the whole thing.”

Filming also took place at Bolton School.

Bolton town centre is set to be catapulted on the international stage with the series set to be distributed internationally by ITV Studios Global Entertainment.

Leader of Bolton Council, Cllr Cliff Morris said: “Bolton has gained a great reputation for being a film friendly town and we’re always happy to facilitate filming requests. We were delighted that Bolton was selected as the location for filming this new ITV drama and our town looked fantastic in Monday’s episode.

“If anyone missed it, I would urge them to watch it – just to see the stunning aerial shots of the town hall and civic centre. Many productions have featured Bolton as a backdrop including Peaky Blinders. Filming puts the borough on the map and profiles Bolton to millions of viewers on prime-time television.”

Adele Hughes, events manager at Bolton School, said: “With the filming of Bancroft, we actually welcomed back the Location Manager, who was the same Location Manager for ‘Our Girl’ which was filmed here in May 2016, which shows we are highly regarded and suitable for a variety of filming requirements. Our premises were also recently used in the filming of ‘Last Tango in Halifax’ and ‘Cold Feet’. Everyone in the region recognises the school as a landmark and I think people enjoy seeing something of the town on national TV.”

Watch the first two episodes of Bancroft on ITV Hub and the third episode of the detective drama airs tonight on ITV at 9pm.