THE son of one of Barrow’s biggest stars is ‘thrilled’ with an upcoming biopic about his dad’s life after attending an early screening of the film.

James Flitcroft was among a host of guests who enjoyed an early screening of the Phantom of the Open at The Roxy cinema in Ulverston on Wednesday night.

James is the son of golfing hero Maurice Flitcroft, a crane driver at Barrow shipyard, who managed to gain entry to the British Open Golf Championship in 1976 and subsequently shot the worst round in Open history - becoming a folk hero in the process.

A biopic, which stars Mark Rylance as Maurice, Sally Hawkins as his wife and Jonah Lees as his son James, is set to be released on Friday March 18.

James helped Oscar-winning Rylance prepare for the leading role after he was shown the sights of Furness in September 2020.

“He was a real gentleman, just a lovely man,” said James.

“He was very kind and spent a lot of time here. I took him around the golf course and the beach - he loved Barrow.

“He was very knowledgeable and I think he enjoyed having someone enthusiastic about Barrow show him around.”

The film’s director Craig Roberts, alongside two of its producers, were in attendance at the special viewing in Ulverston this week, with all profits from the night donated to Ulverston charity St Mary’s hospice.

James offered up nothing but praise for the film – and commended the biopic’s portrayal of his late father, who died in 2007.

He said: “I thought the film was great and really special for the town.

“I asked them if we could do an early screening in Ulverston before the official release because I thought it was important to bring it back to Furness.

“The screening at The Roxy was really well attended – it was a sell-out.

“I’m proud of how they portrayed dad. The people who worked on the film are professionals and we had long discussions with them about what things were really like and they really followed that.

“Of course, there was some artistic licence used but that’s expected in a film.

“It’s a golfing story at the end of the day and focuses on the importance of family values.”

James said the film received a ‘huge round of applause’ from audience members.

“There was a wonderful reception from everyone there,” he said.

“The director and producers involved in the film really eat, sleep and breathe this story. And the audience could see that, it was so well received.

“At the end of the film, we got a huge round of applause which was amazing. People seemed to really enjoy it.”