Victoria Hall will appear as the backdrop for a TV drama about the battle to save millions of people following the outbreak of the flu pandemic of 1918.

The hall in Victoria Road, Saltaire, will appear on BBC’s Spanish Flu – The Forgotten Fallen, which follows one doctor’s efforts to protect people from the Spanish influenza pandemic during the Great War.

Filming was carried out at Victoria Hall in May.

Victoria Hall manager, Stacey Clarkin, said: “The Evans Room was transformed into a turn of the century hospital ward and, for many days the building was full of some very ill looking patients dressed in billowing hospital gowns clutching sick bowls.

“It was great watching it being filmed but I know Victoria Hall is going to look completely different when it is on TV.”

Set against the background of the Armistice in November 1918, as millions of exhausted soldiers return home from World War I, the film tells the story of Dr James Niven, Manchester’s medical officer of health, and his efforts to combat a second wave of fatal flu as it spread across the UK.

The drama also stars The League of Gentlemen’s Mark Gatiss, Bill Paterson, who appeared in Little Dorrit and Criminal Justice, Charlotte Riley (The Take) and Kenneth Cranham (Rome and The Lavender List).

The film pays tribute to an estimated 70 million who died of Spanish flu and echoes current fears in the wake of the predicted Swine flu pandemic, a BBC spokesman said.

Screen Yorkshire worked with the drama’s production company, Hardy Pictures, to bring the production to Victoria Hall and provided location and crewing support for the shoot.

A spokesman said: “Attracting production companies from across the UK to film in the region is a key priority for Screen Yorkshire.

“It’s the second time Hardy Pictures have chosen to base a shoot in the Yorkshire region in recent months – they filmed Channel 4’s 1066 here and were so impressed with the crews and the diversity of the locations available they chose to come back.”

Victoria Hall was used as the backdrop to a TV advert for the Yellow Pages in 2007. It also appeared as part of a series when Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey and celebrity chef Richard Fox visited the Bradford Beer Festival in 2008.

Spanish Flu – The Forgotten Fallen is on BBC1 next Wednesday at 9pm.