FILMING finished on the second series of the critically-acclaimed Cumbria-based BBC drama 'The A Word' on Tuesday (June 20).

The BBC One prime-time drama, which stars Christopher Eccleston, Greg McHugh, Morven Christie and Lee Ingleby, focuses on the lives of a family with an autistic son and their friends.

It is based in a fictional Lake District town, and has been filmed in Coniston, Broughton-in-Furness and Keswick, as well as on the fells around Honister Pass and Thirlmere.

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The final scene to be filmed featured Christopher Eccleston's character, grandfather Maurice, taking part in the 'High Tarn Fell Race'. It was filmed at Bridgend Farm near Thirlmere.

Christopher Eccleston was inspired by his own personal hero and fell running legend Joss Naylor when rehearsing for the character of grandfather Maurice - who has a passion for fell running and runs a brewery based in Coniston.

"Maurice's greatest hero in life is Joss Naylor, and he's a big hero of mine too," said Christopher. "Maurice is quite a different character to Joss Naylor. "There is an argument that Maurice himself is on the autistic spectrum, however he certainly wouldn't diagnose himself.

"But we looked at Joss - a typical Lakeland man. If Maurice has a religion, it is fell running, so we looked at imagery of Joss.

"Filming here has been great. The Lakes obviously give us an extensive backdrop; we don't just want the obvious beauty, we want the full scale and all the different weather. Here, we certainly have had that.

"We have had a wonderful welcome from the people who live here, which is important to us. People seem to embrace the show because of the issues that are in it.

"We are used to having programmes like this having an urban setting, but an issue like autism touches all members of society. Bringing a child up with autism somewhere like Cumbria has its own set of problems."

Executive producer Marcus Wilson added: "Filming today has been going really well. We tried to film two weeks ago, but we had to stop because of terrible weather.

"It is fantastic filming here. I can't begin to tell you how helpful everybody has been and how welcoming.

"The town the family live in is a composite of Coniston, Broughton and Keswick, so you may see somebody turn a corner in Coniston and pop out in Broughton.

"Christopher Eccleston has been doing a lot of running around the area. People love this show, and the affection it shows for Cumbria."

'The A Word' is scheduled to be screened in the Autumn.