A MOVIE company is planning to film part of the amazing life story of a reformed drug addict from Blackburn in the town this summer.

And the production team is calling on local people to help out as extras when the cameras arrive in June.

Stephen Smith, a businessman in his 50s, spent four months living rough in Blackburn, caught in the grip of drug addiction.

Now a successful writer, he was involved in the underworld of 1960s London and became addicted to amphetamines. He graduated from street thefts to burglaries and robberies and eventually linked up with the infamous Kray twins.

He went on crime sprees to fund his huge drug habit before fleeing to Blackburn where he lived in a Salvation Army Hostel.

Stephen said: "I came to Blackburn because it was at the end of a train journey. Trains were somewhere comfortable to stay and I ended up being thrown off in Blackburn.

"I was in the town for about four or five months and it was a very low point for me. But people in northern towns were much more human than the kind of people I was meeting in London. They were prepared to listen to me and in some ways I realised I did have a future." Stephen has since found redemption with the help of a German woman, Hannelore, whom he eventually married and his life story is told in a book called Addict.

The rights have been bought by American producer Gary Kurtz who worked on Star Wars and American Graffiti and a major film is being planned.

Anyone interested in taking part in the filming should write to Gary Kurtz, 2 Blake Close, Galley Common, Nuneaton, Warwickshire CV10 9RQ.

Stephen has also written a booklet Drugs? No Thanks. For a free copy send a stamped self addressed envelope to the above address.

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