021102 Western Daily Press

A west city fast acquiring a reputation as a mini-Hollywood is preparing to welcome another star studded production.

Movie crews are becoming as common a sight in and around ancient Salisbury as camera-clicking American tourists on package holidays.

Directors just can't seem to get enough of the history-steeped city and its world-famous cathedral, Salisbury Plain and the half-timbered thatched cottages nestling around ponds and churches in the county's villages.

"The Salisbury area has a lot of attractions to film-makers," said Vicki O'Connor, who works for Bath-based Sarah Eastel Locations.

"There's a wide range of properties and it's a great city to be based in too, as it's a lively place.

Locations are a key thing that will pull a crew out of London.

"And there are so many period properties and stately homes in the Salisbury area."

Last year the south Wiltshire town of Tisbury was used for location shooting of the hit film Chocolat, which starred Johnny Depp, Dame Judi Dench and Juliette Binoche, and now another major production is to be filmed in the area.

Shooting of the historical drama Cromwell and Fairfax will take place at a secret location near Salisbury next month.

The cast will be headed by Reservoir Dogs star Tim Roth, Dougray Scott, Rupert Everett and Olivia Williams.

Mike Barker, who was responsible for the BBC TV adaptation of Lorna Doone, is in the director's chair for the film which centres on the English Civil War of the 1640s.

Roth takes the role of Oliver Cromwell and Dougray Scott is Sir Thomas Fairfax.

The movie tells the story of the post-war relationship between General Fairfax, who led the Parliamentary forces to victory, and Cromwell, the leader of the Parliament and "Lord Protector of England".

Friends during the war, their political differences drove them apart as they had to decide how to build a new England and the fate of Charles I.