Gwen Taylor's 'old granny' role for film on history of county's mills (with pics)

HEARTBEAT actress Gwen Taylor has taken time out from national television to star in a community film being shot in Derbyshire.

Dressed in a bonnet, she has been playing the part of a 19th-century grandmother in a drama-documentary about the industrial revolution.

Gwen was born and brought up in Crich and played parts in a range of television series, including The Sweeney and sitcom Duty Free, before taking on her current role as Heartbeat's Peggy Armstrong.

The 69-year-old has joined volunteers and a professional crew at Sycamore Farm, Hazelwood, to make Spinning Down the Derwent.

The community project has been set up to involve local people in film-making, with volunteers taking part in everything from research to acting.

Gwen plays a central role as the film's narrator, telling family members the story of how the mills came to Derbyshire, which is then shown in a series of flashbacks.

She said: “The director, Lloyd Johnston, was playing a small role in Heartbeat and he asked if I'd be interested in doing a documentary about the industrial revolution.

“I thought it would be a film featuring me dressed in nice clothes walking around Derbyshire's mills but I've ended up playing a terribly ugly old granny.”

Mr Johnston previously collaborated with producer Rosemary Timms, who runs Milford-based Maypole Promotions, on the historical documentary Samuel Slater – Hero or Traitor? in 2004.

He wrote the screenplay for that film but said this time he had been keen for local people to contribute through writing workshops. He said: “It's given all the volunteers the experience of working with professionals to make a film.

“Gwen is wonderful, she should get an honour from the Queen. She's a fantastic actress and can do everything in one take. She seems to read my mind and comes up with great ideas.

“By pure chance I sat next to her at breakfast on the set of Heartbeat and when I asked her to take part she said she'd love to.”

Funding for the film, which has cost £45,000, came from Nottingham-based EM Media, Heritage Lottery Fund, Derbyshire County Council and Amber Valley Borough Council.

Ms Timms said: “We've done a lot of research and held a lot of writers' workshops so we've got enough material to create about a dozen documentaries.

“We started filming last week and it's been going really well.”

Filming will continue until the end of the week and a DVD of the documentary will be ready in December.

One of the volunteers who has been given an acting role is textile artist Jeni Smith, of Bridle Lane, Lower Hartshorne.

She said: “I thought I would just be doing the close-up shots of the embroidery because of my background in textiles but I had a small speaking part, which was very scary.”