A MAJOR children's TV series filmed at a Horwich factory is being shown on ITV from next week - and one of the stars will be the boss's son.

For when filming began at Arcon Engineering works, off Chorley New Road at Wallsuches, 13-year-old Christopher Aspinall - son of Arcon director Marcus - was chosen for a part.

He appears in the eighth episode and his dad is dead proud.

Mr Aspinall said: "It was nothing to do with me that he got the part. He fancied being an actor and now he has appeared in this he definitely wants to do it.

"But a lot of the men who work here were extras because the producers needed people for crowd scenes. It caused a lot of interest having a TV programme being filmed on the premises."

The programme, called Life Force, is a 13-part sci-fi thriller, which is transmitted weekly on ITV from next Monday at 4.35pm.

It is set in the year 2025 at a time when global warming has melted the ice caps and flooded the planet.

Producer Peter Tabern chose the Horwich factory - a collection of stone mill buildings, many Grade II listed - because of its atmosphere, though he admits that he originally wanted to film at a location in London.

He said: "We tried to find a place in London but it didn't have anything remotely approaching the geography we needed for the series.

"We needed a big derelict site with drainage, power and water to cook with. There just aren't any derelict sites of at least 40 to 50 acres in London so when I saw the aerial shot of the one in Bolton I thought 'yes this is it'."

Filming took place between March and August last year. All but two weeks of filming took place in Bolton.

The only time they left town was to nip up to Loch Lomond in Scotland when the North-west's water levels dropped a bit too low to represent melting ice caps in the summer.

"Most of the water sequences were filmed on the 27 reservoirs around the Bolton base but when water levels dropped we had to go to the Loch," added Mr Tabern.

"I didn't realise how dramatic the drop in water levels would be when the citizens of Liverpool and Manchester began to drink!"

As well as starring Christopher Aspinall, Life Force will also feature Burnley actress Julia Haworth and Coronation Street heart-throb Paul Fox who plays Mike Baldwin's son Mark.

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