Last night I pulled up outside the University of Central Lancashire’s Mitchell and Kenyon cinema and found my way to a seat. As I slide into it, Ric Michael, organiser of the Lancashire International Film Festival, is introducing “Charlie Noades R.I.P.”, a British comedy released earlier this year by North Star Productions. It’s written by and starring Neil Fitzmaurice, best known for the part of Ray Von in Phoenix Nights and playing Jeff Heaney in popular Channel 4 comedy Peep Show.
AdvertisementAs the film starts we are introduced to the main setting, Parr’s Scrap and Salvage, Liverpool. We are quickly introduced to a rag-tag bunch of workers in the Yard (obviously a close-knit group) headed by Steve Parr (Fitzmaurice), son of the owner Les (John McArdle).
Steve appears to have it all, working with his dad in their own business, a good group of friends he works with, a beautiful fiancée and a gorgeous baby son. Behind the scenes though we soon find out that the business is in danger from a local megalomaniac businessman played by John Henshaw.
The plot is thickened when Steve is tracked down by the executor of the will of one of his deceased grandfathers friends, who provides him with an old chest which reveals his grandfather and friends had discovered a chest of gold and hidden it, only to die before they could claim it, sending Steve and friends on a hunt for the missing Gold.
Along the way there are twists and turns that equally leave the audience feeling compassion for the plight of the scrapyard workers, the rest of the time you find yourself laughing at Elvis, or the “Guard Dog” Frank with his unique style of attacking intruders.
In the words of the Producer, Tony Fitzmaurice; “It’s a nice little film, it will touch a lot of people” and personally I couldn’t agree more. If nothing else it will make you look at hair gel in a completely different way…