A south Cumbrian celebrity will have a film about his life feature at an international film festival.
Archie Workman has made a name for himself in the area by maintaining and repairing benches, drains and shrubbery.
The film, called 'Drainspotting', focuses on his rise to fame from unclogging blocked drains in Colton parish to creating a name for himself on the after-dinner circuit and featuring in news stories across the globe.
Describing how the idea first came about for the film, Archie said: "I couldn’t believe it when they approached me.
"I’m hoping this film will make me the most famous drainspotter in the world - becoming a film star is quite an honour I suppose, I might get a statue one day, you never know.”
The nine-minute film will make its international debut at the Biarritz Film Festival in France on January 22 with another screening on January 25.
Produced by Screen 3 Productions, the story was directed by Andy Oxley and Joshua Gaunt, a team-up that only came about when they visited Ulverston to take photos of Archie for the Dull Men of Great Britain calendar.
“They came up for two days and had me running up and down and driving down these country lanes asking if I could do things a bit slower then a bit faster, I was absolutely exhausted," Archie explained.
Fantastic news to announce ~ #Drainspotting film has an International Premier in Biarritz Film Festival https://t.co/IES09AnAJx
— Archie Workman (@TheLengthsman) January 13, 2024
click on the trailer !
22nd January at La Gare du Midi ~ Salle Atalaya
25th January at La Gare du Midi ~ Salle Garnaritz pic.twitter.com/KiJk9tealT
The film was originally screened at the Laurel and Hardy Museum last July with the proceeds from ticket sales going to St Mary's Hospice.
In total, £200 was raised for the local charity after 40 people came to watch the premiere.
The hope is that, through its now international attention, even more people will come to know about Archie's life story and his favourite pastime - drains.
"There's a lot goes into drains, a lot of people walk down the streets, as you probably do, and you never look down in the gutter," he said.
"I spend half my life in them and all these drain covers have been there since the 1800s, and being an old engineer, I just think it's fantastic."
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