BUDDING actors and extras are needed for a film about the tragic tale of a murdered Workington girl.

Director Steve Baldwin is in west Cumbria this week, checking out locations which can be used in some of the final scenes still to be shot for The Ballad of Lucy Sands.

He will be shooting in Allonby and in the grounds of Broughton Craggs Hotel, where the crew will be based. He will also be looking around Workington, Maryport and Whitehaven to see if there are suitable locations.

The film is the true story of a young orphan brought from Belfast to live with her grandmother and aunt in Workington. In December 1881, she left her home on Christian Street to walk with her friends and never returned home.

Lucy’s body was discovered three months later, hidden beneath a pile of old road cobbles by the side of the busy main road that led out of town, the Northside. Her death and the murder trial that followed were reported for weeks in the newspapers.

Filming was meant to have been completed in April. Steve, who did some filming in the area at the end of last year, now hopes to have completed by the end of the year. He has been working hard to ensure he can film safely. “I have done a lot of Covid courses and am very aware of safety on set,” he said.

He plans to shoot a crowd scene in Allonby. “We will do it very very carefully – everyone has to have confidence in what we are doing.

“We chose Allonby because we wanted a quiet area with lots of space to allow for social distancing and everyone’s safety. We are hoping to use the market square and really animate it, with a Punch and Judy show, buskers, lots going on.”

Many local people were involved in some filming done in the area last October.

“There were about 200 people involved in a church scene. It was one of the most emotional scenes we have done,” said Steve, who has done much of the filming down south.

“It’s a wonderful community. All the cast and crew cannot wait to get back to the area.”

Steve plans to shoot in August. Anyone wanting to be involved should contact him through his Facebook page, The Ballad of Lucy Sands.