A TELEVISION company based in York has been named one of the best places to work in TV.

Air TV, which produces shows including 999 Rescue Squad, Helicopter ER and River Walks, is based at the University of York's Heslington campus, and won the recognition as part of Broadcast Magazine's national awards.

The company was recognised for its commitment to staff training and development, team communication and environmental sustainability, and also recently picked up the Independent Spirit Production Company of the Year at the regional Royal Television Society awards.

Director and series producer Matt Richards said: "Developing our team is crucial to the success of Air. While many companies rely on the short-term freelance market to make their programmes, we’re proud to offer longer contracts, job security and the ability to grow within the company. Most of our team work across several productions and new projects regularly give people the opportunity to act up or try out different roles. We’re proud to have a zero rate of voluntary turnover - no-one has yet chosen to leave Air for another job."

Air TV has produced more than 100 hours of programming for UK channels in the last two years, and director and executive producer Ian Cundall said the company was proud to help local people break into television.

He said: "We’re passionate about giving people from Yorkshire and the wider north a chance to enter or progress within television. It’s a scandal that people from many of our local communities have been marginalized by an industry that shouts about diversity but first demands most entrants must come from or move to London.

"There is no greater disadvantage facing young creatives from all backgrounds than this ultimatum to live in poverty or sacrifice family ties. We recruit locally and we constantly look for new ways to help creative people stay here."

The company is currently working on a new ten-part series called Bangers & Cash for the Yesterday channel, which follows a family-run classic car auction in North Yorkshire, and recently produced two River Walks programmes for BBC One.