WORKERS at Tootal’s Sunnyside Mills became TV stars back in 1975 when leading director Tony Scott brought a film crew to Bolton to shoot an advert.

In recent years, the town has a proud history of being a location for TV and film - shortly before Lockdown the Top Gear crew were in town filming and it seemed as though every other week that cameras would take over Le Mans Cresent and around the town hall.

But 45 years ago film crews were not such a regular sight.

Female workers were filmed leaving the mills at the end of a shift for a chocolate bar commercial - a scene which the Evening News reported was repeated many times before the director was satisfied with the results.

The crew spent two days at the mills and to supplement the workforce, around 50 ‘extras’ were taken on from Bolton Employment Office to add to the number of women rushing through the factory gates.

Five of the girls in the commercial had never seen a Lancashire mill until they arrived in Bolton as they were actresses brought up from London to take the main roles in the commercial.

At the time Tony Scott was one of the leading makers of TV adverts before he went on to become one of Britain’s top film directors working on blockbusters including Top Gun, True Romance and Enemy of the State.

Were you involved in the filming or do you know someone who was? Can you remember which chocolate the advert was for? In reports at the time the Evening News simply described it as being ‘for a well-known chocolate bar’. Send any memories and photos to john.anson@nqnw.co.uk as we’d love to feature them.