With the help of classic cars, old fashioned milk bottles and newspaper cuttings about the Queen’s silver jubilee, the Groves has been turned back in time to the Seventies.
In the movie, the Groves doubles for Hull in 1977. The story centres on teenager Derek Springfield, a teenager from the dockside who became a student at a top public school after winning a scholarship.
Lesley is only one of a group of stars known for roles on the big and small screen who are in Slapper & Me.
She plays Lil. Fellow Scott & Bailey copper Ben Batt – and Shameless star – is Little Eddie.
Luke Newberry takes the lead role of Derek. He was BAFTA nominated for his role on BBC Three drama In The Flesh.
Genevieve Gaunt, aka Pansy Parkinson in Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, is Luke’s love Chrissie.
Another Harry Potter actor, Ian Hart (Professor Quirinus Quirrell in The Philosopher’s Stone), who came to prominence playing John Lennon in British film Backbeat, is Big Eddie.
Lee Ross (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Iain Glen (Game Of Thrones) and Tom Prior (The Theory Of Everything) also star.
Fast and loose
Directed by Betsan Morris Evans, Slapper & Me is produced by Green Screen Productions, the Bubwith-based company which was also behind school drama The Knife That Killed Me.
Slapper is the name of a no-hope greyhound that Derek trains while waiting to escape his family and head to Oxford University.
As the dog gets faster she’s stolen for her racing potential. Chrissie joins with Derek to find Slapper, who breaks loose from his captors. The climax of the film sees the dog entered in a proper race with her kidnappers in pursuit.
They will be filming in the Groves for the next few weeks.