When Hollywood came to Newcastle and turned city streets into a movie set

Lights, camera, action: in September 2016, Newcastle was a buzz of activity when Michael Bay - the man behind big budget Hollywood action films - came to town with an A-list cast and stunt men in tow.

The director and producer chose the city as one of the locations for Transformers: The Last Knight, the latest in his man-versus-machine blockbuster franchise. After working on scenes in London, the filming for the new epic battle then brought cast and crew - and some very flash cars - to Newcastle to shoot chase scenes.

Crowds gathered to see Josh Duhamel at the core of the action around the Monument, where cordoned-off areas allowed members of the public to watch as a convoy of supercars and military vehicles zoomed around the streets which had been littered with 'rubble' for the latest scene. The actor, star of four of Bay's Transformers movies, also chatted to ChronicleLive during a break in filming, saying of their latest location on a lengthy shoot which included filming in three continents: "It's one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen."

In another interview during the film team's stay in the region, stunt man Corey Eubanks - whose roles included driving the films' famous Bumblebee car - told how the action-loving Bay was the most exciting director he had ever worked with; being keen to give others free rein to share ideas for adding new explosions and stunts. After the city centre scenes, they then all drove up to Northumberland for more filming and this time it was Hollywood co-star Mark Wahlberg being captured on camera.

Sir Anthony Hopkins was also in the cast and he was seen chatting to onlookers around Alnwick Castle which was the backdrop to the shoot, with filming taking place around its Inner Bailey and also immediately outside the castle walls as well as inside the castle including in the library. Bamburgh was to feature too although, when the film came out in 2017, locals had to keep their eyes peeled to spot them all as the locations were generic in the story .

However, the eagle-eyed may well have recognised Alnwick Castle in a Transformers scene which features a tank in its grounds. The region's castles, coastline, countryside and city landmarks have actually made regular appearances in films and TV shows over the years and another, more recent, big movie shoot saw Hollywood come calling again in summer 2021.

Then, work on the new Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny movie, the fifth instalment, took place at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland where cranes, a tank and motorbike were spotted ahead of the shoot which saw Harrison Ford in action again as adventurer Indie at the age of 78.

The star also spent his time off getting to know the region and he was seen cycling as well as eating out in North Shields and Newcastle and having a stroll along the Quayside. Ford later referred to the film as "a big job of work and a very ambitious film" and he said of making it: "It was fun to go to work every day.”

Find some scenes below of that too.