THE tables were turned on a teenage film director from Darwen when he had to appear in front of the cameras on national TV.

Rik Nicholson, 16, of Belgrave Road, was given the opportunity to appear on BBC2's Classic Blast programme to promote his new 12-minute movie.

And although he has already had success in film awards across the North, he admitted that being filmed himself made him nervous.

He is hoping his appearance will now boost his chosen career in the music video industry and lead to more offers of work.

Classic Blast is a programme aimed at highlighting the best film, art, writing, music and dance produced by teenagers across the country and provides advice from experts in the industry.

It also promotes the work of 13 to 19-year-olds on its website.

Rik's latest movie, R.Splet, was submitted to the show's producers in the summer by a co-ordinator of the Co-operative Young Film-Makers Festival in Bradford, which was impressed by his work.

He, and school pal Luke Southern who appears in the movie, were then invited to go to the television studios in London.

Rik said: "They asked us some questions and we had to answer them on camera which I'm not used to. I was nervous and kept giving bad answers but Luke was fine.

"We were on the programme for about ten minutes and it went well."

R.Splet was named after a character in a movie by David Lynch, Rik's hero director, and it tells of a young man's journey through life.

The film has already been shown at the Co-operative Young Film-Makers Festival in Bradford and was one of the highlights at this month's Exposures Student Film Festival, held at the Cornerhouse, Manchester.

Rik said: "I would ultimately like to work in the music industry but on the film or animation side." The former Darwen Moorland High School pupil is currently studying for a BTec national diploma in media at Blackburn College, where his tutors have said that he is fast-gaining a national reputation for the quality of his work.

Course tutor Jamie Holman said: "We have a particularly strong student group this year and Rik was assisted by three friends, Matt Aspin, Luke Southern and Chris Coates, from GNVQ media during the making of this film.

"Rick is a very talented pupil."