A BRADFORD film-maker, whose cult sitcom stars the city’s favourite funnyman, Billy Pearce, has shot a lockdown version of the show.

Steve Call is the director of Up North, a comedy about two families separated by a garden fence. On one side are the Smiths, whose head of the family, Mick, is unemployed. On the other side of the fence, well-to-do Bev Devi is trying hard to keep up appearances, glossing over the fact that her marriage is a shambles.

Self-taught film-maker Steve, from Wrose, decided to make a spin-off show called Lockdown Up North, which has been shown on TV channels Sheffield Live! and Latest TV. Each actor filmed their scenes on mobile phones in their homes and Steve’s scenes were shot by his daughter, Millie Grace. Steve then edited the scenes.

He has also finished season three of Up North, due to broadcast on Latest TV in Brighton. The cast includes Billy Pearce and fellow comic Bernie Clifton.

In 2017 the T&A reported that actor and stand-up comedian Bobby Knutt was due to appear in the second series of Up North, as a surprise for fans, alongside Bernie Clifton, who plays the regular part of barman Colin Wood, and Alhambra panto king Billy Pearce. When former Emmerdale actor Bobby sadly died, aged 71, while on holiday in France in the summer of 2017, Steve dedicated the final episode of Up North to him.

Steve, 54, is a former electrician who turned to film-making in 2008 after he had to give up his job and was hospitalised with a sore skin condition, triggered by an autoimmune disorder. In 2015 he teamed up with actor friend Dean Sills to produce a pilot show for Up North, which they sent to a local TV channel in Essex. The following year the first season of Up North picked up an award from Essex TV for winning it 100,000 viewers, leading Steve to make a second season.

The comedy, which takes a gritty look at northern life, has been filmed around West Yorkshire, with some scenes shot in Roberts Park in Saltaire. The cast includes Bradford actors.

Steve is also making a mark on film festivals with two short films; The Wild Garden - a documentary about garden wildlife which he co-directed, edited and did the music for - and Me and My Shadow, a horror short about mental illness shot just before lockdown.

“So far, the film is in four film festivals, including the NightPiece Film Festival which is part of the Edinburgh Fringe, and Beyond The Curve, a film festival in France,” said Steve, who plans to submit both films to more festivals in coming months.

He added: “It’s been a tough year for us all in the arts and we have had to cancel our new feature film shoot yet again because of Covid and bad weather last year, so both Dean and myself are just writing our next projects. I’m also building my own digital platform to host my work, which will be a subscription service called Digitalindie.”

* Visit digitalindie.pivotshare.com