Gosford Park benefited from National Lottery money

Film exports fell from �700m in 2001 to �657m last year, according to the Office of National Statistics.

Imports rose slightly from �456m to �470m, giving the UK film industry a net surplus of �187m.

This positive balance contrasted with the UK's television industry, which was shown to have a net deficit of �553m last year.

The US was the UK's biggest customer, accounting for 49% of UK film exports in 2002, a 1% rise on the previous year.

Meanwhile Europe represented almost 40% of exports, a 5% rise on 2001, while Asia was just under 10%.

Biggest source

The US was also by far the biggest source of imported films, representing 66% of the films bought by the UK in 2002, a rise of 5%.

European films were the second most popular imports at 31%, a rise of 13%.

In terms of film production, the figures showed there was less inward investment into the UK last year.

Nevertheless there was a sharp rise in payments to UK film companies for work overseas.

Receipts from abroad for the production of films in the UK slipped 4% to �222m, while payments for production work overseas rose from �50m in 2001 to �67m.

The latest James Bond film Die Another Day and Lara Croft and the Cradle Of Life were among films produced in the UK last year.