THE writer behind an award-winning comedy gangster movie has spoken about his new film project which will delve into the “darker side of the criminal underworld”.

Anthony Longhurst, 62,  is a actor, writer and producer who has lived in Thorpe-le-Soken since 1998.

In 2021, his film Lucas And Albert, which was filmed along Tendring’s coastlines and starred former Eastenders actor John Altman, scooped Best Feature at the National Film Awards.

Anthony made the film with writing partner Robert Putt and director Darren S Cook, and it originally premiered at Clacton’s Century Cinema in September 2019.

Writer - Anthony LonghurstWriter - Anthony Longhurst (Image: Anthony Longhurst) Now, Anthony has spoken to the Gazette about the prequel project, Tales Of The Underworld, which should be released at some point next year.

After teaming up with Darren again, the new project has been filmed across north Essex, and Tales Of The Underworld is an anthology of crime stories that will be interlinked to eventually create a feature film.

It also features characters that are mentioned in Lucas And Albert, and the project finished filming on September 10 and is now entering the post-production phase.

Anthony said: “It looks at the darker side of crime and the criminal underworld, through the police, a journalist, an informer and more.

Interesting - actor in Tales of The UnderworldInteresting - actor Caron Kelly in Tales of The Underworld (Image: Anthony Longhurst)

“Yet despite this, there are some moments of humour, just like Lucas And Albert.

“It is an old-style crime story in the vein of The Long Good Friday, Get Carter and the TV series The Sweeney".  

He continued: “I am also writing a novel and a TV series that looks at the history and combines these films.”

The cast includes Tony Denham, Michael McKell, Ian Burfield, Kim Taylforth, Sidney Livingstone, Gary Hailes and more.

It also features several local actors - Susan Regan, Charlie Vaughan, Jordan Abrams, Eve Whittington, and Colchester's Carl Ellis.

Actor - XXXX in Tales of The UnderworldActor - Carl Ellis in Tales Of The Underworld (Image: Anthony Longhurst) Anthony hopes to premiere Tales Of The Underworld “early in the new year” and host a screening at the Century Cinema as well as several other cinemas across north Essex.

A follow-up film to Lucas And Albert called Babysitters will complete the trilogy in the future.

For more about Tales Of The Underworld or to donate to a fundraiser to help its production, visit greenlit.com/project/tales-underworld.