It's not that grim up north, but is it commercially viable?

M50 2HQ - a simple combination of six letters and digits that sends shivers down the spines of hundreds of TV executives. It’s the postcode for MediaCity UK - the British TV industry’s new Northern home.

The very thought of moving north has be known to make the grown men and women of London cry. Imagine the thought; do they even have channel 5 up there? Well yes, we do. (Not that anyone watches it, but that’s beside the point).

For me, as a Northern lad, the idea of production moving North is fantastic. Not only does it mean there will be more jobs available to me in the media, but it will mean that programmes might be more representative of our country as a whole, rather than being London centric.

BBC have already stated that ‘making content relevant for the whole of the UK’ is one of their aims of BBC North, but what does this mean for the exportability of our programming? Will dramas set in Keighley be as attractive to overseas buyers, as those littered with London landmarks.?

BBC Worldwide - the commercial arm of the corporation, whose role it is to sell their programmes and formats to different countries - made a profit of £145 m last year, and their annual report states that ‘BBC America had its best-ever ratings, owing to the success of Torchwood and Doctor Who.’

London to new Who is as the quarry was to the classic series. In the first four series it became a staple of the episodes set on contemporary Earth, with Russell T Davies crashing a spaceship into Big Ben and blowing up 10 Downing Street in the first series alone. Similarly, BBC’s Sherlock, which wouldn’t be Sherlock Holmes without its London setting, is also currently the top downloaded TV Programme on iTunes in France.

Both of these are brilliant programmes in their own right - but would they be as popular with foreign audiences, and therefore as commercially viable, if they didn’t present the image of Great Britain people have come to expect?

Films like Notting Hill & Four Weddings & A Funeral are perfect examples of the importance of London to commercial success, in the same way that the Parisian setting of Amelie made it so successful in the UK and worldwide.

It’s a tough time for most commercial enterprises at the moment, and the cash-strapped UK TV industry is no exception, so it seems that the extra money that international exports bring in is as important as ever.

As much as the move North will prove an exciting change in the dynamic of British TV, and programming will hopefully start to be representative of the whole of the country, not just the capital, TV bosses will have to be careful not to alienate our international audiences.