Film starring Maxine Peake and Vic Reeves will be 'love letter to Yorkshire'

Stars from the silver screen stopped by a Yorkshire working men's club to shoot scenes for a film which will be 'beautiful a love letter' to the county.
Screenwriter Tony Pitts on location with Maxine Peake. Credit: Gizmo Films.Screenwriter Tony Pitts on location with Maxine Peake. Credit: Gizmo Films.
Screenwriter Tony Pitts on location with Maxine Peake. Credit: Gizmo Films.

Multi-award-winner Maxine Peake was among the acting talent who recorded parts of Funny Cow at the Westborough Ratepayers WMC in Dewsbury last week.

The feature film, also starring Vic Reeves, John Bishop and Paddy Considine, will chart the rise of a woman battling her way through the male-dominated world of stand-up comedy in the 1970s and 1980s.

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Other filming locations included Leeds’ Hyde Park Picture House and areas of Saltaire.

Producer Kevin Proctor said: “Everywhere we’ve been in Yorkshire it was overwhelming, the support we’ve had.

“I’ve never worked on a film where all the crew and cast have been so happy.”

A passion for Yorkshire inspired Sheffield-born Tony Pitts, who played Archie Brooks in Emmerdale from 1983 to 1993, to write the script.

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And location manager Gary Barnes was responsible for picking out the most beautiful and cinematic scenery the county has to offer.

Mr Proctor said: “It’s such a beautiful, beautiful love letter Tony Pitts has written to Yorkshire.”

Malcolm Scott, steward of the Westborough Ratepayers club in Brunswick Street for 18 years, said: “We were ready for decorating and they told us not to – they didn’t want it too modern.

“There’s not many working men’s clubs left. That’s what caught their eye.”

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During the scene filmed there, which involved actor Alun Armstrong, a comedian begins their routine only to fail before Peake steps in.

The movie, directed by Adrian Shergold, will be released later this year.

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