Bid to cast Shropshire as film industry's star
Lights . . . camera . . . action . . . MP Mark Pritchard is topping the bill of a new blockbuster campaign to turn Shropshire into the Hollywood of the United Kingdom.
The Wrekin MP has requested a debate in the House of Commons in the hope of establishing the county as an A-list movie location.
Mr Pritchard said he believed the Government should be promoting the county as a jewel in the movie-making crown.
"Absolution, Atonement, The Pickwick Papers, A Christmas Carol and Clockwise were all films made in Shropshire," he told MPs.
"Could we have a debate on making Shropshire the pre-eminent and premier - if you'll forgive the pun - film location in England for British film-makers, American film-makers, international film-makers? That would be good for Shropshire businesses and for tourism.
"We have a beautiful rural landscape, historical places and points of heritage, and I want Shropshire to play its part in the UK film industry and the promotion of the UK."
Mr Pritchard views are echoed by up and coming director Jon Stanford, from Church Preen, who returned to his roots last year for his debut film, romantic drama Long Forgotten Fields, starring Game of Thrones actor Simon Armstrong.
He said film makers would get a warm welcome, adding: "The support we had from local people was fantastic. Whenever we've asked people for their help, there was a real can-do attitude."
Several big box-office successes have been shot in Shropshire, involving stars such as Keira Knightley, Gillian Anderson, Hugh Grant, John Cleese, Jennifer Jones and David Niven.
One of the first big productions was the 1949 drama Gone To Earth. Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Jones filmed in the shadow of Ludlow Castle and around Much Wenlock, while sets were also built inside a hangar at RAF Shawbury.
David Niven filmed Disney adventure Candleshoe on the Severn Valley Railway in 1976, one of many movies shot on the Bridgnorth line – others include Robert Powell in The Thirty-Nine Steps, Sherlock Holmes film A Game of Shadows, and The Chronicles of Narnia.
Hugh Grant also shot 1995 comedy The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain at the railway's Hampton Loade station, as well as the village of Llanrhaeadr, near Oswestry.
And do you remember the day when a row of three red telephone boxes mysteriously appeared outside the Raven Hotel in Much Wenlock - then vanished a few days later? That was in 1985, when John Cleese came to town to film scenes for his crackpot comedy Clockwise.
The truth was out there in 2007 . . . alongside X Files star Gillian Anderson who took cover in the Wyre Forest, near Cleobury Mortimer, with Danny Dyer for gritty revenge thriller Straightheads, which also used Mawley Hall.
And some of Britain's best known actors including Kathy Bates, Rupert Everett and the late Richard Briers descended on Ludlow in 2000 for comedy drama Unconditional Love.
The most recent high-profile production to base itself in Shropshire was Oscar-winning drama Atonement, where Stokesay Court near Craven Arms played host to Keira Knightley, James McAvoy and Saiorse Ronan.
Commons Leader Andrew Lansley gave Mr Pritchard's request a cautious response yesterday, saying: "Forgive me if I wasn't as knowledgeable in relation to the relationship of the film industry to Shropshire as I should have been. That is very interesting.
"Certainly there will be other places in this country who also have a lot to say about the film industry, but I hope it would also be an opportunity to demonstrate what a success this country now is in terms of film and creative industries."
