A SPACESHIP has landed in Breightmet just days after a number of people in the town reported strange objects in the skies above Bolton.

But unlike the possible “UFO” sightings, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation why this full size craft in Breightmet — for it is part of the out-of-this-world set for a sci-fi film being shot in the area.

Writer and director Lee Bolton is filming Charlie and Me, a script he wrote when he was was a teenager.

And just like the sets in the classic film Star Wars, the space ship was created from office clearances and from what could be found in skips — taking just under a month to create.

Mr Bolton, aged 43, who lives in Farnworth, said: “We just asked if we could take things from local skips — the chair in the spaceship is a just an old dentist chair and everything was painted, I have had a great team to put it together.”

The film follows “the pilot”, a mother taken from her family who is drafted in to the elite core to protect the Earth in 2107.

Mr Bolton, who has been filming at his studios in Breightmet, said: “It was supposed to be a complete comedy film I was going to make with all my friends when I was 18.

“I am 43 now, with my own film studio, so I took the Charlie idea away and locked myself in a tent in Wales a few years ago and fleshed out the film.

“It is far from a comedy, it’s a sad tale of being alone and finding this strange modded power unit that can communicate with limited range.”

He added: “Science fiction can be hard on a low-budget film. It can look terrible, cheap and a risk.

“The lifepod set and the VFX shots look amazing.

“We’ve all geeked out on set – it’s so much fun.”

The film features actors from the North West and Ania Pankiewicz-Tonge from Breightmet.

Members of the production team are recent graduates of the University of Bolton.

Once produced, Mr Bolton is hoping to show the film on the big screen complete with the red carpet treatment in Bolton before entering the short into film festivals.