Written by new-contact on Jun 3, 2013. Posted in On Location

Ashford Film Studios in Ireland eyes expansion to target high-end television

Ashford Film Studios in Ireland could be expanded to help boost the country’s location filming appeal. Situated in County Wicklow near Dublin, the studio already offers three stages - the largest of which is 28,400 square feet - and it hosts hit TV show Vikings.

Studio boss Joe O’Connell is considering an expansion that could cost up to EUR100 million, the Sunday Independent reports, as he considers ways that Ireland can respond to the UK’s new television filming incentive.

“England has very good incentives and so does Northern Ireland. It's a question of how you respond to that,” O’Connell told the outlet: “The primary market is high-end television in the US ... There is a demand in the UK. They've run out of space. We'll get the spill-over.”

Vikings has the potential to match the success of Game of Thrones – filmed in Northern Ireland – and Dublin is once again doubling for Victorian London in the second series of the BBC’s hit period crime drama Ripper Street. Ireland’s Section 481 location filming tax incentive has been extended to 2020.

(Vikings still courtesy of History Channel)