The 'Pool of Life

After London, Liverpool is a candidate for the title of Britain's most filmed city. The port city that gave us the great liberal prime minister William Gladstone, the painter George Stubbs, The Beatles, the 'Liverpool poets', the playwright Willy Russell, novelist Beryl Bainbridge, comedian Ken Dodd, film director Terence Davies and TV writers Carla Lane, Alan Bleasdale, Lynda La Plante and Jimmy McGovern (not to mention two very visible football teams) has long had an impact out of all proportion to its size and population.

Small wonder that the city - once described (by 'beat poet' Allen Ginsberg) as "the centre of the consciousness of the human universe" - was chosen as European City of Culture in 2008, the year after it celebrated its 800th anniversary.

Get a taste of what's on offer by viewing the video opposite.

Liverpool: A City on Screen