Joe Meek movie
“Telstar”, a movie about the famous 60-s music producer Joe Meek (with a Purple connection), began filming in London this month. Both Meek’s studio and Mrs. Shenton’s shop were recreated further along Holloway Road, complete with the neighbouring bank. The movie is directed by Nick Moran with Con O’Neill (who reportedly was very impressive in the stage version) playing Joe Meek.
The cast also includes:
- Kevin Spacey plays Major Banks
- Jon Stewart plays Dennis
- Pam Ferris plays Mrs. Violet Shenton
- JJ Feild plays Heinz Burt
- Sid Mitchell plays Patrick Pink
- Rita Tushingham appears as “Essex Medium”
- Martine McCutcheon appears as “Lady Victim”
- Nigel Harman plays Jess Conrad
- Tom Burke plays Geoff Goddard
- Ralf Little plays Chas Hodges (The Outlaws’ bassist)
- Joan Hodges (wife of Chas) plays Biddy Meek (Joe’s mother)
- Callum Dixon (who played Leyton and Lord Sutch in the play) plays John Leyton
- James Corden plays Clem Cattini (The Tornados’ drummer)
- Tom Harper plays Alan Caddy (The Tornados’ guitarist)
- Craig Vye plays Mitch Mitchell (the drummer)
- Des Hamilton plays Lionel Bart
- Shaun Evans plays Billy Kuy (The Outlaws’ original lead guitarist)
- David Hayler plays John Peel
Other members of the cast:
- Chas Hodges has a cameo role in the film as Mr. Brolin
- Jess Conrad plays Larry Parnes
- Carl Barat (The Libertines) plays Gene Vincent
- Justin Hawkins (The Darkness) plays Screaming Lord Sutch
- Jon Lee (S Club 7) plays Billy Fury (The Tornados were his backing band)
Robbie Duke (aka Patrick Pink), who was at 304 Holloway Road when the fatal shootings happened (over 40 years ago now), is amongst the extras.
No mention yet of who (if anyone) is playing Ritchie Blackmore, and IMDB’s Telstar page does not list Ritchie as a credited part. David Hayler played him (with just two or three lines) in the stage version.
The two act play (based in Meek’s studio) was largely comedic for the first act but with the second act being Meek’s dark descent into paranoia and pills.
Many thanks to Nigel Young who provided all this information.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
To keep Joe Meeks instrumental sound alive I have written many of my own songs, along with others on two albums. Full details on my web site at http://www.chestnutbankproductions.co.uk There are 5 tracks on the jukebox page from my two albums.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:45Regards Byron Elwell.
this film is coming out at about the right time. we at RGMAS Joe’s first fan club had a meeting recently and Patrick Pink had email’d regular members about appearing as extras. I didn’t make it but others did so let’s give a big hand to all the Meek Freeks who have kept his name alive and in the public eye since Joe’s tragic death on that fateful morning
October 29th, 2007 at 10:17Stuart Freed Publicity RGMAS