DORSET’S recent brushes with the glitz and glamour of the screen have seen more than £600,000 invested in the county.

Figures obtained by the Echo from Creative England revealed that film and television productions in Dorset generated £604,250 for the local economy between January 2015 and the end of July 2016.

This includes money spent on employing locally and on services in the area during the productions.

It does not incorporate the subsequent tourism impact of these productions, which is worth between £100 million and £140 million to the British economy each year.

Weymouth recently experienced the bright lights of Hollywood when Second World War movie Dunkirk came to town, with stars Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy and Mark Rylance in tow, as well as Inception director Christopher Nolan.

The film’s crew spent several days shooting in the harbour area and also filmed scenes in Swanage.

It is estimated that Dunkirk alone could have generated as much as £128,000 for the county over the course of its four days of filming in Weymouth and Swanage, based on an approximate daily figure of £32,000 for a major film production of that size.

The figures also include ITV crime drama Broadchurch, which is set on the Jurassic Coast and regularly films in West Bay and Bridport.

Beth Hogben, Creative England’s production and regional partnerships manager for the South West, said that Dorset has had some “really good stuff” in recent years.

She added: “We have noticed that there is an awareness that having a destination such as Dorset in a film often can encourage people to come and visit that place because they have seen it on their screen.

“I think it’s brilliant that the current production has come down to Dorset because the councillors down there are very film friendly and we worked with them to make that happen.”

Cllr Jason Osborne, Weymouth and Portland Borough Council tourism spokesman, said the recent production was a “great few days” of filming and activity in the town centre.

He said: “It is not just about numbers; it is about raising the profile of Weymouth and keeping the Weymouth brand up there with all of the other big seaside towns.

Cllr Osborne said he would “absolutely” encourage more productions to come to the town.

He added: “Anything that puts Weymouth on the map and anything that takes us up the table of seaside towns would be something we would welcome.”