BUSINESS in Bridport is booming once again as cameras continue to roll in West Bay for the second series of Broadchurch.

The cameras returned to film in front of the iconic West Bay cliffs on June 5, marking the first time the cast and crew have filmed in front of the cliffs on East Beach for the second series of the BAFTA award-winning show.

Local businesses have already reported a boom in trade after people keen to catch a glimpse of the star-studded cast in action headed down to West Bay.

On the first day of filming, the cast and crew set up their production base in the car park next to the West Bay Hotel and Andrew Buchan, Jodie Whittaker and Charlotte Beaumont, who play Mark, Beth and Chloe Latimer in the show, were filmed driving around West Bay and Bridport. David Tennant, Olivia Colman and Hollywood legend Charlotte Rampling could also be seen filming in a house in West Cliff.

Tim Attrill, from Harbour News, which featured heavily as the newsagents in the first series, said the store had seen a lot more visitors due to the filming – which has also caused a lot of local excitement.

Tim helps run the Harbour News with dad Richard and ahead of filming, the store put a spoof script in the window.

Tim added: “We’ve had members of the film crew come in for drinks and snacks and a lot of people have loved our spoof Broadchurch script.

“Once filming wraps up even more visitors are likely to come to West Bay. Trade has certainly seen a boost so far.” Steve Tucker, who runs the Ellipse Café which featured as the police station in the first series, said producers have been keeping the filming fairly quiet but lots of people have been asking the café about the filming for series two.

Sam Good, landlord of The West Bay pub, said he hopes the same knock-on effect of trade following Broadchurch being shown on TV takes place for series two.

The trade increase comes after businesses told of record sales over the Easter bank holiday weekend in April, and Bridport shared a predicted £67 million income from tourism in Dorset during the August bank holiday week last year.