A FILM created in Worcestershire which tells the incredible true story of an Irish pilot who journeyed to England to join the RAF during the Second World War has won more than 50 awards.
The Shamrock Spitfire – produced by Nigel Davey from Cofton Hackett and John Dawson from Hanbury – centres on Brendan Finucane who, dreaming of becoming a flyer, becomes one of the first to enlist into the Royal Air Force in 1938.
After a baptism of fire in the Battle of Britain, Brendan proved himself a natural-born fighter pilot and was given command of the 452 Australian Squadron.
Under Brendan’s leadership they became the stuff of legend.
Some of his Brendan’s comrades painted a shamrock on his Spitfire in tribute to his Irish roots. His plane then became renowned as ‘The Flying Shamrock’ and he was affectionately known as ‘Spitfire Paddy’.
Such was the Brendan and his crew’s reputation, Prime Minister at the time Sir Winston Churchill wanted a whole ‘Shamrock Squadron’.
The Shamrock Spitfire, written and directed by Ian and Dominic Higgins from Hopwood, chronicles the epic tale of one of the Second World War’s most celebrated fighter aces and, at the age of 21, the youngest Wing Commander in the history of the RAF.
Nigel has worked with Ian and Dominic on seven previous films and had wanted to write an Irish-based story for a film.
John, who joined the trio for this project, has a good knowledge of Spitfires so was well-suited to creating this film.
Nigel said: “When we started out, it was just going to be a short film.
“But when the news got out to the Spitfire community and American film companies that we were making a biopic about ‘Spitfire Paddy’, it quickly grew into a feature film.”
Filming took place across Bromsgrove district and Worcestershire with locations including Avoncroft Museum, the Lickey Hills, Alvechurch, Hanbury and Evesham.
As well as all the main actors, more than 100 extras were involved.
The feature film also marks the debut of Dublin born actor Shane O’Regan in the lead role of Brendan Finucane.
Nigel added: “It was a great project to work on and the local people were so accommodating in the areas where we filmed it.”
It has been on the pre-release film festival circuit The Shamrock Spitfire garnered more than 50 awards, including nine at the Paris Film Awards and ‘Best War Film’ at the Oniros Film Awards in New York.
It is officially released on Tuesday, March 12, on Apple TV and other platforms and will be available on DVD from next Saturday, March 17 which is St Patrick’s Day.
The film will also be shown on the big screen at Artrix on April 3 and 4 where viewers will be able to meet the production team.
Visit pixelrevolutionfilms.com/shamrock for more.
