A FILM by acclaimed director Ken Loach looks set to make a star of stalwart Bolton comic Venn Tracey.

The 59-year-old stand-up comedian is taking a leading role in Loach's latest big-screen drama, 'The Navigators'.

And it could now catapult the relatively unknown star of working men's clubs all the way to Hollywood.

Venn was snapped up by the director, whose films include Kes, after an audition last year.

He plays a character called Gerry, a stick-in-the-mud union representative looking after a bunch of British Rail workers in south Yorkshire.

The film is said to be typical of Loach's work and centres around the social and safety effects of rail privatisation,

Set in 1995, it focuses on a group of track workers whose community spirit is threatened by a take-over of their railway line. But, despite the gloomy and political synopsis, Venn, who was brought up in Bowen Street, Bolton, stressed the film is also packed with humour.

He said: "It's about a bunch of lads and there's obviously a lot of banter and mickey taking between them.

"It doesn't aim to be the next Full Monty but it's gritty and does have elements of a black comedy."

Venn has been a stand-up comedian for 37 years and started entertaining shortly after he left St Edmond's School, in Bolton.

Making the jump from pubs and clubs in Bolton and Blackpool to making a movie was difficult to comprehend, he said.

And he revealed he was close to turning the role down.

He said: "I thought about it for a few days because it was quite daunting.

"I'd never acted before and I did wonder whether I could go through with it.

"But Ken Loach said my work as a stand-up meant I was acting every time I went on stage so I decided to go for it and I'm glad I did."

The film was written by ex-railwayman Rob Dawber, who died from asbestos poisoning in January 2001.

Monty

It stars Steve Huison, from the Full Monty, Joe Duttine (Pie in the Sky, Holding the Baby) and Tom Craig (Shooting Stars).

Venn said: "We never knew what was happening in the film. Ken would hand us a sheet of paper with that scene's lines and we'd film it without knowledge of how it fitted in with the rest of the drama.

"There'd also be lines in each script which the other's actors didn't know about so when a joke was cracked the rest fell about laughing because it was so unexpected.

"The camera caught that reaction and it really worked.

"When I saw the result, I sat back and thought how well it turned out."

The film will be shown at selected cinemas across Britain, including Manchester, in early November. Channel 4 will screen the film on November 30.

The 96-minute movie has been showcased at film festivals in Venice and Toronto and has been enthusiastically received.

His choice of using comedians was applauded by critics.

Loach said: "It was a question of finding a group that would complement each other. We needed actors with genuine warmth.

"A lot of the humour may seem quite tough but there's an underlying affection to it as well.

"We were looking for good comics who were also good listeners."