THE success of the TV series Restoration, which saw Manchester's Victoria Baths win more than £3m in desperately-needed regeneration funds, identified enormous public interest in Britain's historic buildings and ancient monuments.

We didn't know we cared quite so much until national treasures were shown to be at such grave risk of being lost forever by the surprise BBC hit.

With the precarious plight of 30 of the most important listed building in the country graphically explained by celebrity advocates, it was easy to take a pessimistic view over the survival of many historic gems.

Here in the north west a total of 17 of the region's 470 Grade I listed buildings and 114 of those rated Grade II* are on the "at risk" register.

But Malcolm Cooper, north west director of English Heritage is not only optimistic about what he calls the region's astonishing historical environment, but spells out its crucial importance way beyond what most people perceive as the limits of the heritage "industry" - museums, tourist visitor attractions and education.

Read this feature in full in Wednesday's M.E.N. Tweet