Rosie Niven

The regeneration of Manchester got a huge accolade recently when it was named Britain’s second city for business after London in the UK Cities Monitor.

But the northern city recently got an even bigger compliment than that – though I’m not sure it’s one that the city leaders in Manchester Town Hall will be crowing about.

England’s regional cities are fiercely proud of their television and cinematic credentials – and Manchester has featured as a location for productions that many other cities would die for.

So it must have come as a shock when the makers of a film about Manchester band Joy Division opted to film away from the band’s home city. The film Control, which won the Best European Film, in the director’s fortnight at Cannes, was actually filmed in Nottingham.

But Manchester’s image makers should not be too despondent. Rather than treating this as a slight on their city, they should welcome this decision, which represents an endorsement of their regeneration activities.

The decision to film in Nottingham was taken because the landscape of Manchester had been transformed so drastically since Joy Division performed there during the late 1970s. After visiting Nottingham, the production team found it was better suited to the aesthetic of Manchester in the 1970s than the city itself.

And if you’ve seen the film’s monochromic portrayal of ‘Manchester’ and its seedy clubs, then perhaps it’s the people of Nottingham who should be worried.