Film to be made in Rochdale

Ian Vernon

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Rochdale will be the theme for a feature-length movie scripted by a screenwriter who has already showcased at the Cannes Film Festival.

‘Best Little Whorehouse in Rochdale’ is a 90-minute comedy with various scenes set to be recorded over the next six months in secret places around Rochdale town centre.

Writer Ian Vernon, who lives in Prestwich, outlined the plot: “It’s the story of Joan, married since a kid and now a 40-year-old cleaner who needs to pay her mortgage.

“She starts doing erotic phone calls because she’s good at that and doesn’t earn enough money from cleaning. A new young cleaner then arrives and suggests that she opens a massage parlour. Joan goes for it in a way, but her house doesn’t become a brothel. Two bungling cops think that something is going on, but it’s all titillation.

“It’s out and out comedy and there is no sex, just innuendo.”

Ian wrote the script whilst in Los Angeles, and despite having a very low budget for the film he has managed to get a bunch of actors and a crew together.

“I knew the actors before writing and wrote specific characters for them,” he explained. “Actors have auditioned and most are new. The star is Jenny Howarth-Williams, who has previously appeared in Emmerdale and Coronation Street.”

Rochdale-born actor Hylton Collins, who has appeared in The Bill and Waterloo Road also plays a central part. He believes that the exposure will be good for the town:

“It could be interesting. It’s not often that you work in your own town. Any film for any town is good no matter what. Look at Emmerdale and Heartbeat, the places where they are filmed are always full of tourists.”

Ian went to an art college in Billingham, his hometown in the North East of England, and was then a professional photographer for 20 years in Manchester. It was not until recently that he turned his hand to scriptwriting.

“I always wanted to get into film, it was my first love. I also had an interest in technology so I started writing about 10 to 12 years ago and found that I was good at it.”

He was indeed that good that earlier this year he had another feature film, ‘Rebels Without a Clue’, screened at the Cannes Film Festival in France. He is flying out to Ibiza today (Friday 11 June) to show the film there.