BACK in the early 1980s a man-eating pike and a Hollywood star attracted the movie-makers to the Lake District.

The Pike was to be the name of the film and its £2m budget was enough to get co-star Joan Collins up to Windermere for a publicity shoot in May 1982.

She had to get rather too close for comfort to a 12ft computerised pike made by Ulverston firm Ulvertech.

It could swim, it could jump and it could bite an angler in half. It made its debut for the press in May 1982 and refused to perform.

The reluctant killer headed straight for the lake bed and had to be rescued by divers.

Once safely on a trolley it was introduced to international film star Joan Collins and managed to snap its jaws and roll its eyes.

The mechanical beast had performed wonderfully in an earlier test run on Coniston but the Windermere problems were blamed on a computer malfunction.

Filming was due to start in autumn 1982 and could have involved up to 100 locals as extras.

Other actors due to appear in the film included Jack Hedley and TV hostess Linda Lou Allen.

However, shooting was called off and it was not until April the following year that confidence rose about a new start date.

There was talk of a new contract and it was still hoped that Joan Collins would be involved.

The project was the idea of author and director Cliff Twemlow, of Manchester.

Mr Twemlow’s book The Pike was published in 1982 and he died on May 5 in 1993.

The plot for the film would have involved a marine biologist and longbow expert called Ulysses Grant.

This was how Mr Twemlow introduced his project to readers of The Mail in April 1981.

He said the film “could establish Windermere as a permanent centre for the future film industry”.

Mr Twemlow had made and starred in several low-budget films including The Eye of Satan and Firestar First Contact.

He said: “Windermere is the only lake in terms of beauty, depth and dimension where this film could have been made, and where the various locations around the lake add to the credibility of the existence of such a creature.

“It also has many commercial interests which give the lake, as well as the film, its vitality.”

Mr Twemlow made several TV appearances to raise funds and public interest in the movie project – but the film was never made.