Paul Keaveny

VERY few international screenwriters can boast that they have got a film coming out on the back of a wave of critical success and a rousing reception at the Cannes Film Festival.

Even fewer can brag that not only have they got this but they have got another film coming out as well - in the same week!

One such writer is Tim Firth. The former Bridgewater High School pupil who has written Calendar Girls and Blackball - both out this weekend.

Tim told Freetime: "It's a bit of a once in a lifetime couple of days really. It's an absolute privilege to have any film of yours released.

"It happened by accident. They sort of sat me down and said you're going to have two out in one week!"

Tim said both films are very English. One about nudity and prudishness and the other about class and perceptions of acceptability.

Tim's film Calendar Girls was warmly received in Cannes but unfortunately he was not!

Presidents

Tim said: "For me it was very odd because I was in Frodsham! In movies they are very tight with their money."

But they did manage to send the writer for a premier in Lacarno, Switzerland. They put the film on in the market square, where about 12,000 people and the presidents of Switzerland and Germany watched it.

Tim has got a series of plays called Trapped, starring Richard Wilson, coming out on ITV next spring.