THE tourism capital of the north is once again playing host to a major movie.

Shooting is now underway in York on the film Victoria and Abdul – in which Dame Judi Dench will reprise her role as Queen Victoria.

The city is Dame Judi’s hometown and she was educated at the Mount School. However, it is not known if she is directly involved in the York shoot.

Crews from the production have set up a base at the city’s racecourse, and a section of the National Railway Museum has been closed to the public to allow filming to take place in private.

Oscar-nominated Stephen Frears – who previously directed The Queen, starring Helen Mirren, 2013’s Philomena, which also featured Dame Judi, and this year’s release Florence Foster Jenkins – is helming the movie.

The film looks at the true story of the monarch’s relationship with Abdul Karim – a young clerk who travels from India to take part in her Golden Jubilee.

Ali Fazal, who last year played a major role in the US blockbuster in Furious 7, will play Karim.

The cast also includes Simon Callow, Michael Gambon, Eddie Izzard – who will be playing the Prince of Wales – Ruth McCabe, The Night Manager’s Adeel Akhtar, Tim Pigott-Smith and Olivia Williams.

A spokeswoman for the production described the film as an “extraordinary true story of an unexpected friendship” as Queen Victoria looks back at her life.

She said: “As the Queen questions the constrictions of her long-held position, the two forge an unlikely and devoted alliance with a loyalty to one another that her household and inner circle all attempt to destroy.

“As the friendship deepens, the Queen begins to see a changing world through new eyes and joyfully reclaims her humanity.”

Dame Judi previously played Queen Victoria in the 1997 hit Mrs Brown, where she was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar, and won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA in the same category.

The film has also shot at locations across Scotland, India and the Isle of Wight, and is co-financed by Focus and BBC Films, and will be distributed around the world next September by Universal Pictures International.

Victoria And Abdul is set to continue filming in York this week.