BEGBIE and Winston Churchill have helped earn £17.5 million for the economy, figures show.

Cinema hit T2:Trainspotting, which featured Robert Carlyle as the diminutive hard man, and biopic Churchill, which sees Dundee's Brian Cox as the wartime leader, are amongst the first productions to benefit from a fund to bring more movie crews to the country.

So far £1.75m has been handed out to projects including TV crime drama The Loch, which stars Laura Fraser.

Yesterday it emerged that a tenner has been brought in for every pound spent by the Production Growth Fund.

The claim comes from Creative Scotland, whose director of screen, Natalie Usher, said: "The Production Growth Fund has proved to be a significant factor in the increase in film and TV production in Scotland in recent years."

The news came as screen industry representatives gathered in the capital to mark the opening of the 71st Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Addressing the summit, Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop announced the Scottish Government will now pour another £250,000 into the scheme, which began in 2015, to bring more movie magic to the economy.

She said: "Film and TV producers spent a record £53 million shooting in Scotland in 2015, an increase of £30m in the last ten years.

“The fund has underpinned strong demand for our crew and our services, cemented trust in the excellence of our work and strengthened Scotland’s reputation as a base for big budget productions. It is attracting major productions to showcase Scotland and our breathtaking locations to audiences around the world, with clear knock on benefits for our tourism sector.

“This is great news both for our screen industry and Scotland’s wider economy.”

Churchill producer Piers Tempest, whose project received £250,000, said it helped create an "extremely positive experience" for the crew, and made Scotland "the natural place" to make The Wife, a literary adaptation starring Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce and Christian Slater.

T2:Trainspotting secured £500,000 through the fund, with ITV's The Loch, billed as a successor to Broadchurch, benefitting by £200,000.