Various scenes of the 10-part TV docudrama series, The Germans, were recently shot in Malta with the involvement of a considerable number of local crew, extras, horses and stuntmen.

On the day of shooting, 84 persons, including 36 extras, were involved. Only 12 of them were foreign, said Joseph Formosa Randon, who organised the local shoot.

"It was a short, but intense, two-day job, which meant it was all the more important to get it right from the word go... or in this case, action!"

Locations included the Roman street in Fort Ricasoli and the Kalkara church.

The street is part of a previous film set and is refurbished and dressed differently by smaller productions, depending on their needs, Mr Formosa Randon explained.

These leftover sets were a huge asset, attracting to Malta the smaller companies, which would not afford the budget to build them from scratch, he said.

Produced by Gruppe 5, with the collaboration of the Romanian company, Men@work, The Germans is being shown in autumn 2008 on ZDF, among other channels.

It is about the early German nation and the part shot in Malta focuses mainly on Frederick Barbarossa. It features Pope Adrian IV, who had crowned Frederick I Barbarossa as Holy Roman Emperor on June 18, 1155, explained Mr Formosa Randon.

Frederick was descended from Germany's two leading families, making him an acceptable choice for the Empire's prince-electors.

Directed by Christian Twente, the actors were Guntbert Warns and Bernd Gnann.

Mr Formosa Randon quoted the German producer as saying, on his departure, that the shoot was "very professional" and "excellent", and expressing his willingness to return to work here.

"In fact, they were so pleased with the way it all went that they are looking at coming back for a longer shoot in March, or April," he said.

Mr Formosa Randon also praised the support of the Film Commission.