IT may be said that there is enough drama at Holyrood as it is.

But life behind the scenes at the Scottish Parliament is to be explored in a new Scots TV drama, which will centre on the lives of ambitious graduates starting out their careers in the Capital.

"The Shore" features three young university friends sharing a luxury flat in Edinburgh's Leith area and working for rival MSPs.

Cameras began rolling last week on the programme, whose makers hope to sell it to Netflix - home of the gritty US drama about the political heat of Washington and the White House.

They also say that they take their insporation from hit 1990s BBC show, This Life, with the cast including former Emmerdale star, Kelvin Fletcher, who played Andy Sugden, as well as former EastEnders and River city actress, Jacqueline Leonard.

It is the first drama to be made by Glasgow-based Solus Productions, which has made a range of factual shows in the past.

Producer Jim Webster said: "We feel there’s a real lack of representation on television of the vibrant, contemporary side of modern-day Scotland that we know. There’s also not a huge amount of TV drama for the 16-30 age range – that’s the audience we’re aiming for.

“All the main characters in the show live together in Leith. It’s not really a political intrigue drama, it’s unashamedly character-driven and will be about the relationships between them. They’re all up-and-coming young professionals.

“We’ve taken inspiration from a trend in America by making it the way we want to make it and then trying to get someone on board. We want to present it and say: ‘These are the characters and this is what we want to do with them.’ We have a clear vision of what it should be.

“We’ve already storylined a whole series. If it’s a success we could be talking about making 12 episodes a year. We feel it’s got the potential to be very long-running.”

Director Tony Kearney, who portrayed Scott Wallce in River City and now directs BBC Alba's Bannan drama, added: "We’re making it a bit under the radar, but we wanted complete creative control. We could get it up and running into a series very quickly.

“Jim and I have done a lot of filming at Holyrood. We just felt that it must all go on inside there. We’ve been talking about doing it for ages – the time just feels right for it. Leith is also just so quirky and beautiful, it’s almost a village within a city.”

It emerged last week that the value of film and television productions to Edinburgh has soared to a record £16.1 million.

Rosie Ellison, manager of the Film Edinburgh commission, said: “It’s been a pleasure working with Solus on this shoot and we hope the pilot leads to a successful series.

“Edinburgh is a film-friendly city in recognition of the economic and cultural benefits of filming.

“Around 40 per cent of visitors to the UK want to visit places they’ve seen on the screen, so we welcome opportunities like The Shore which can promote our city to the world.”