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If I had a pound every time someone cracked a joke about it being ‘grim’ up North - or that it’s always raining - while I might not make enough to buy my favourite football club, I am pretty sure it would keep me in hot dinners for a while.Ìý

But when people claim that the programmes the Â鶹ԼÅÄ makes across the North of England are in various shades of grim, I’d happily forgo a hot mealÌýjust because it is simply not that black and white.

This . Now and written by BAFTA-winning writer Peter Moffat, it stars a stunning cast including Maxine Peake, John Simm, David Ryall and Juliet Stevenson. Charting the life of one Peak District community during some of the most turbulent times in recent history including war and hardship, at its core is a story of family and of loyalty and love. .

Of course this drama is only one view of life in the North. This weekend is set in 1890s Yorkshire, and features Diana Rigg and daughter Rachel Stirling in a Gothic melodrama specially written for this series by Mark Gatiss. , with its many BAFTA nominations and starring Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid, was a heart-warming story of love rekindled late in life and will return later this year. And Kay Mellor’s second series of masterfully spun that fantasy we all have of winning the lottery, into something really special.

And of course portraying life in the North goes beyond drama. Comedy is just as important and my favourite recently was from stand-up comedian Jason Cook, who took his own real life experience of growing up in the North East and penned his gentle but portrait-perfect comedy . As well as starring roles for Chris Ramsey and Kimberley Nixon as the newly married couple, mum and dad were played by Gina McKee and Jim Moir with great turns by Lisa McGrillis and Pat Dunn as his sister and gran respectively. The and there’s a Christmas special to look forward to as well. The community it portrays is tough, but the depiction is tender.

Â鶹ԼÅÄ Children’s, from its Salford base, has made and , breaking new ground by tackling the thorny issue of kids in care with both humour and subtlety andÌý made school cool again. And for the youngest audiences, Bernard Cribbins is delighting pre-schoolers and parents alike in , set in picturesque North Yorkshire.

Once upon a time it was harder to get audiences in the North to come to Â鶹ԼÅÄ fiction. Somehow we lost the knack of appealing right across the nation and we certainly didn't capture the region in all it's glory and grit. Now our research shows that as many – if not more – people across the North of England are watching these and other programmes made in the North. Because we are getting it right - in range, tone, language and setting.

But it’s not only about portrayal and celebration on screen. It’s about getting out and about across the North and celebrating alongside the audience itself.

Just over two years ago, together with 10,000 revellers in their wedding finery, we brought ruined Kirkstall Abbey back to life with the award-winning . Last year we re-told the Easter story live on Â鶹ԼÅÄ One with and this June, we are doing our bit to celebrate the centenary of Indian cinema with our unique music and dance fusion where East meets West, . Culture, music, fun and community - key ingredients of Northern life.

The Â鶹ԼÅÄ isn’t alone in trying to capture every facet of life here in the North. ITV have been doing it well for decades. You don’t have to look further than or from these parts to see how skilfully it weaves together the everyday and commonplace with the darker side of life. on C4 certainly had its moments too.

It's about time that we got beyond the Northern myths. The dark satanic mills have gone and big bustling cities with metropolitan populations have replaced them - look at the this summer, one of the most sophisticated events in the European arts calendar. And Television – the stories we tell and the lives we portray - have to be about light and shade. Because at the end of the day, it makes for a richer, more satisfying experience.

That's it, I'm off - while the sun is still shining.

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Peter Salmon is Director of Â鶹ԼÅÄ North.