ONE OF the UK's leading independent production companies has announced plans for a new permanent office in Scotland.

Shed Media - which makes programmes including Bad Girls and Waterloo Road - plans to open a Glasgow office with three permanent staff, including a development producer who will have a brief to help bring on new writing talent in Scotland. It is hoped the office will be open in six months time.

Brian Park, managing director of Shed, said the company has been increasingly involved in TV production north of the Border. Shed has several Scots in senior positions, including Park and chief executive officer Eileen Gallagher.

Park predicted television production in Scotland was set to expand in the same way it has recently grown in Wales, where the BBC's decision to move Doctor Who to Cardiff reinvigorated the entire industry.

He said: "It is time for the resurgence of a production base in Scotland. Glasgow is a thriving, metropolitan city and we are looking forward to telling stories about and from Scotland as a modern entity rather than something involving tartan or shortbread."

Earlier this year, BBC Scotland commissioned Shed to produce an eight-part drama set in Scotland called Hope Springs. The show will follow a group of convicts' wives trapped in a small Highland town.

Park said Shed was taking up "Michael Grade's gauntlet" - Grade being the ITV executive chairman who caused controversy in January by claiming all Scotland's top television talent had moved south.

"We want to give something back to Scotland's writers," Park added.

Last year Holyrood set up the Scottish Broadcasting Commission (SBC) to investigate the way the television industry operates. In January, the SBC released a report saying the Scottish economy would benefit significantly from a better developed television production sector.

Blair Jenkins, chairman of the SBC, said it was "great to hear" about Shed's decision.

He said: "Shed setting up a permanent base in Scotland is a big boost to the TV industry in Scotland. This further strengthens the sector - we need successful drama companies like Shed but it is also important that existing, indigenous companies are able to grow and we have new start-ups."

Linda Fabiani, Holyrood minister for culture, said: "I am delighted that Shed Media Plc have decided to open a new office in Scotland, drawing on our top talent, creative minds and technical expertise. This government is determined to stren