大象传媒

Before he played Billy Caspar in Kes, David Bradley had only acted at school, in a couple of plays and pantos.

"The bit where Billy talks about starting to train Kes - I had to learn the lines in one night. It was only shot twice."

Ken Loach's film Kes (written by another Barnsley lad, Barry Hines) is an incredibly popular and seminal film - and not just because it's local. But some might think that playing Billy could have been a cross to bear.

Family

Billy Caspar's life is fraught with problems and he has the whole world on his shoulders, but David says it was a happy place to be during filming.

"It was like a huge family. The cast and crew got on extremely well. It was a seven and a half week shoot (but I did extra filming because of working with the bird - of which,听by the way, I knew nothing about beforehand).

"Ken Loach tries to instill this sense of family on his locations - everyone gets on with everyone.

"We kids had a great time, it was like a super summer holiday and it was the chance of a lifetime. All the kids in the film were either my classmates or they came from local Barnsley schools."

Brian Glover in Campion (1990)

Brian Glover

Speaking of Brian Glover, Billy Caspar's ferocious teacher, David Bradley remembers the man fondly. "He was as large a character in reality as he was on screen, but he had his heart on his sleeve - full of life and energy, even when he was very ill before he died. I visited Brian in the hospice as he was dying, the year Barnsley went up to the Premiership. I took him the local paper and on the back was a picture of him eating some Barnsley fish and chips, which he really liked. And he wasn't a professional actor (there was only one professional in the whole production). He was a part-time wrestler!"