Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
"California may have sun, sea and Silicon Valley, but up here in the grim North West, we have the Silicon Canal." - Simon O'Brien.
Close Up North investigates the growth of the computer games industry in the North West of England. Talented youngsters - like Martin Kenwright, founder of Runcorn based Digital Image Design - are becoming millionaires by writing best-selling computer games.
The North West is home to around a dozen leading software houses. Liverpool based Psygnosis rose from the ashes of Imagine software, and have had massive success with recent Playstation hits Wipeout and Destruction Derby. Manchester publisher Ocean Software made its name with a string of hits on the home computers of the 1980s, their next project is the ambitious steampunk shooter HMS Carnage, overseen by Nigel Kershaw.
The days of the lone, self-taught bedroom coder are not entirely over, however. In North Manchester, Jason C Brooke has spent four long years hard at work on his game, Darker. He discusses the trials and tribulations of solo game design.
Software development in the North West is not just limited to video games, though. The aforementioned Digital Image Design's commercial flight simulator games impressed the RAF to such an extent that they are now working together to create official training simulators for RAF pilots. Professor Bob Stone of VR Solutions, meanwhile, harnesses virtual reality to create both the virtual L.S. Lowry museum, and as an architectural and marketing aid for small businesses.
The success of British software houses has attracted international attention - it is estimated that more than half of British developers have been partially or completely bought out by multinationals in the past three years. Sony has bought Psygnosis, whose staff have grown from 50 to 300 employees, but with international investment comes inevitable changes to working practices. Will the British games industry thrive in the cutthroat world of big business, or will it lose its identity?
Clip taken from Close Up North: The Silicon Canal, originally broadcast on BBC One, 25 April, 1996.
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"California may have sun, sea and Silicon Valley, but up here in the grim North West, we have the Silicon Canal." - Simon O'Brien.
Close Up North investigates the growth of the computer games industry in the North West of England. Talented youngsters - like Martin Kenwright, founder of Runcorn based Digital Image Design - are becoming millionaires by writing best-selling computer games.
The North West is home to around a dozen leading software houses. Liverpool based Psygnosis rose from the ashes of Imagine software, and have had massive success with recent Playstation hits Wipeout and Destruction Derby. Manchester publisher Ocean Software made its name with a string of hits on the home computers of the 1980s, their next project is the ambitious steampunk shooter HMS Carnage, overseen by Nigel Kershaw.
The days of the lone, self-taught bedroom coder are not entirely over, however. In North Manchester, Jason C Brooke has spent four long years hard at work on his game, Darker. He discusses the trials and tribulations of solo game design.
Software development in the North West is not just limited to video games, though. The aforementioned Digital Image Design's commercial flight simulator games impressed the RAF to such an extent that they are now working together to create official training simulators for RAF pilots. Professor Bob Stone of VR Solutions, meanwhile, harnesses virtual reality to create both the virtual L.S. Lowry museum, and as an architectural and marketing aid for small businesses.
The success of British software houses has attracted international attention - it is estimated that more than half of British developers have been partially or completely bought out by multinationals in the past three years. Sony has bought Psygnosis, whose staff have grown from 50 to 300 employees, but with international investment comes inevitable changes to working practices. Will the British games industry thrive in the cutthroat world of big business, or will it lose its identity?
Clip taken from Close Up North: The Silicon Canal, originally broadcast on BBC One, 25 April, 1996.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive - youtube.com/c/BBCArchive?sub_confirmation=1
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive
