Whitby - and one of its famous visitors - land roles as Robinson Crusoe returns to TV screens

A MAJOR £13m TV production of Robinson Crusoe is to be filmed at locations across the region.

US TV giant NBC has joined forces with Power productions to recreate Daniel Defoe's classic tale.

Film crews are due to shoot at several locations across North Yorkshire from Monday, May 19.

Both Whitby and York - together with the Grand Turk, a replica of an 18th Century man-of-war - will form a background to the drama.

And locals are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the film crews and the linked economic and tourism boost.

Councillor Terry Jennison, Whitby's deputy mayor, said: "I'm absolutely delighted at the news. We will welcome them to the town and it's going to bring a lot of tourism in and be good for the economy."

Mark Kibblewhite, a Scarborough Borough Council tourism officer, said: "It's a major boost for the area.

"Whitby is such a place that it's certainly suited, especially with its maritime history, to this sort of period drama.

"There's been a lot of TV shows filmed in the area recently and it's done a lot to raise the profile of the area."

The 13-part TV series, to be screened later this year, is being billed as an ambitious remake of Defoe's tale, penned in 1719.

The Grand Turk - which will be filmed in Whitby harbour - has been seen on TV before in episodes of Hornblower and Longitude.

Ian MacDougal, skipper of the Grand Turk, said: "It's very exciting. I think the filming is going on for five weeks here and it will be very interesting to see the quay done up in an 18th Century style."

Philip Winchester, who has starred in Thunderbirds and Flyboys, takes the role of the famous castaway.

Duane Clark, of CSI: New York fame, has been named as director and Anna Walton will take the role of Crusoe's wife.

Filming will also take place in South Africa and the Seychelles.

Robinson Crusoe has been on the screen several times before with Robert Hoffmann in the classic 1960s series and then in 1997 with Pierce Brosnan.

Power production's Justin Bodle said: "With such a stellar cast and director on board, we are well on course to delivering a landmark piece of event television."

The new series is following in the footprints of the black-and-white series from the Sixties that became a classic of children's TV.

Made in 1964 and filmed in the Canary Islands, originally in French, it starred Austrian actor Robert Hoffman as Robinson.

The series was dubbed into English, with the narrative spoken by a North American, as the voice of the castaway.

The haunting musical score is by Robert Mellin and Gian-Pero Reverberi .