THEY have captured the secret lives of traffic wardens and been behind the scenes in hospitals, airports and police stations, and now TV documentary makers are turning their attention to the Angels of the North.

That is to be the name of a new reality TV drama that will follow the work of the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) for the next four months.

Six film-makers started work this week, with the three helicopters based at Durham Tees Valley Airport, Otterburn, in Northumberland, and in Penrith, Cumbria.

Angels of the North will be screened over eight weeks on BBC1 next spring. The series will raise the profile of the charity, which was set up in 1991 and has saved many lives and reduced countless patients' suffering.

It should also be a big boost to the charity's coffers, because the service costs £3.5m to run every year.

Founder Grahame Pickering said: "We are delighted the BBC have decided to join us. It will be a great opportunity for the public to see the great work that our paramedics and doctors do.

"Programmes like this are invaluable in raising the profile of the service regionally and nationally."

Director Nick Jordan, who has worked on City Hospital and Castle in the Country, said: "Having done a bit of filming with GNAAS, I was impressed by the service, but I found it incredible that it was run by a charity without money from the Government.

"I am extremely excited about this project. Visually, this area of the country is stunning, and the air ambulance is blessed with wonderful characters and personalities."

Paramedic Jane Peacock, who has been with the service for three years, said: "It is a bit daunting at the moment, but I suppose we will get used to the cameras. I have not told my family yet, but my children will be mortified -they're teenagers."

Mr Jordan said Angels of the North would be different to typical medical documentaries.

He said: "It will be fairly fast-paced and about human stories, but we will also look at the people who run the service and the fact that it is a charity. I see the series as a way of doing something that will really help this charity and a group of people that I am incredibly impressed by."