It's a wrap on Mottram's first ever feature film

It was a wrap last Friday at Mottram Community Centre on a feature film with a small but significant claim attached.

‘Highly Recommended’, the debut horror comedy from Greater Manchester independent ‘Angry Lynx Productions’, is believed to be the first feature film of any genre ever shot entirely in Mottram-in-Longdendale, and the first horror feature ever filmed in Tameside.

The seven-day shoot ran from Saturday 23rd to Friday 29th May 2026, on a final budget of under £5,000. It is a remarkable achievement on the budget. A typical British feature film costs hundreds of thousands of pounds; a typical micro-budget production runs to tens of thousands. Highly Recommended has reached the end of its shoot at a fraction of that, made possible by a script the cast wanted to play, a village hall that opened its doors, and a team of around twenty-five cast and crew willing to work for love and a tea round.

The film is written and directed by Steven James Griffiths. After two tours of Iraq as an aircraft technician with the British Army, Griffiths spent twelve years working behind the camera in British TV and film as an extras casting booker and crowd second assistant director. Highly Recommended is his debut as a director, and the first feature from Angry Lynx Productions, the company he founded and named after the Lynx helicopters he serviced in the army. 

The film was inspired during a volunteer day at the Community Centre, when Griffiths was struck by the Grade II listed building’s character. Within three months he had written the script, assembled the cast, and brought the production to the village.

Mottram Community Centre, the 200-year-old village hall on the edge of the Peak District, gave the production its location and its character. Trustees and Angry Lynx Productions are in conversation about a community screening at the Centre on Halloween.

Earlier feature productions including Yanks (1979, directed by John Schlesinger) and Billy Liar (1963) used Tameside locations but neither was shot solely in the borough. The League of Gentlemen famously used Mottram for some exterior scenes but is a television series, not a feature film. Highly Recommended is the first to plant itself fully in the village, with every frame shot inside or just outside Mottram Community Centre.

The cast brings together familiar faces from British soap and stage. Christine Walsh (Coronation Street, Hollyoaks) leads as Nicola, opposite Cal Bentley (The First Team) as her husband John. They are joined by Neil Rowland (Coronation Street, Emmerdale) as Ronnie, Wendy Patterson (Coronation Street, In The Flesh, Exciting Times) as Dorothy, Kelsea Knox (Departures, Blue Lights) as Lilly, Alexi Papadopoulos as Jeremy, and Salford’s Joe Chambers as Derek, the caretaker.

Paul Morris produced. Daniel Kuptel was Director of Photography, shooting on a RED Komodo 6K. Simon Chiu supervises visual effects. Mary Jean Walsh was the costume designer and continuity. Heidi Schofield did make up and SFX coordination across the production. Casting is by Adam Zane. Executive producers are Steven James Griffiths, Jo Booth, Carla Donato and Samantha Judd. 

Steven James Griffiths, writer and director, said: “This film began on a volunteer day at the Community Centre, when I realised what an extraordinary 200-year-old building it is. Within three months we had a script, a cast, and a circle of chairs in the hall on the first night of the shoot. To find out we may be the first feature film ever shot entirely in Mottram makes the whole thing feel even more like the right place at the right time. Mottram opened the door to us. We tried very hard to make it worth their while.”

Paul Morris, producer added: “We have made a feature film for less than five thousand pounds. People will tell you that is not possible. It only is because the right people kept saying yes and bringing the right things to set. We are extraordinarily grateful to a community that did not have to give us the time of day, and did.”

Lauren Moore, a Trustee of Mottram Community Centre, said: “The Trustees were proud to host the production at the Centre. To have a feature film shot in our village hall is something we did not think we would ever say, let alone the first feature film ever shot entirely in Mottram. We are looking forward to a community screening later in the year so that everyone in the village can see the Centre on the big screen.”

Neil Rowland, who plays Ronniesaid: “I have been on a lot of sets in my career, and this was one of the best. Small village, small crew, big script. There is nothing more British than people who barely know each other being polite about something terrifying. We have made that film.”