Frankie Howerd has a lot to say about the Rome of the North, and the Metro Centre is giving him a forum to do it in.

The Metro Centre was home to Europe's largest indoor amusement park when it opened in 1988. Metroland was a fantasy-themed venue, with rides including bi-plane waltzers, a pirate ship swing boat, hot air balloon Ferris wheel, and a steam engine rollercoaster.

The Metro Centre specialised in themed offerings; their more eccentric shopping precincts included a Roman Forum, an old English village with a watermill powered by a man-made stream, and a Greek town square complete with dummy buildings and Juliet balconies. The designer, Sir John Hall, intended to create a revolution in retail, giving people more than faceless capitalism and injecting humour where he could.

To mark the 21st anniversary of the opening of the Metro Centre in Gateshead, a look back at its his history from initial construction and opening in 1986 though to the opening of the new Red Mall in 2004. The film includes visits by celebrities such as Margaret Thatcher and Frankie Howerd, as well as several television commercials for the produced during this period.