The Liverpool Echo Website – 6th August, 2010

According to the Liverpool Echo, a raunchy TV drama starring actor Richard E Grant and X-Files star Gillian Anderson will be shot in Liverpool.

The city’s Georgian Quarter is to be transformed into 1870s London for the BBC Victorian period drama, The Crimson Petal and The White.

Cast and crew working on the four-part adaptation of Michel Faber’s international best-selling novel will come to Liverpool in two weeks.

The Crimson Petal and The White, produced by Origin Productions, will tell the story of Sugar, a well-read prostitute who yearns for a better life having become trapped by the limitations of a woman’s role in Victorian society.

Things change for her, however, when she meets William Rackham, a wealthy man who falls for her charms and buys her out of the brothel.

Lynn Saunders, manager of Liverpool Film Office, said: “Liverpool’s Georgian Quarter is a huge favourite for film makers. “The style and almost perfect condition of the architecture, and the ease with which we can make a few quick changes to revert it back to its original look, makes it a very appealing location. We’ve hosted so many productions there now that residents and our partners make it easy for them to do their work with the minimum of fuss and hassle. And that welcoming, can-do reputation is a big factor when studios choose to film in Liverpool.”