A BOURNEMOUTH film company is hoping for success with a Sweeney Todd-style thriller inspired by the town’s binge drinking problems.

A cast of well-known actors will be in Bournemouth later this month to start filming K-Shop – a movie about a kebab shop owner who takes revenge on drunken customers.

Writer and director Dan Pringle, of White Lantern Film, was inspired by late nights spent working in their former premises overlooking St Peter’s Road.

He took to the streets with a handheld video camera and then worked a night shift in a kebab shop to see the problems staff face.

He hopes the film will deliver a clear message about the state of British binge drinking culture, but in an entertaining way.

“St Peter’s Road was kind of the carnage capital of Bournemouth,” he said.

“I went onto the street with a camera and within about 10 minutes I filmed a fight breaking out.

“It was all very animalistic, it almost felt as if I was observing a nature reserve.”

And he said the night working in Mega Kebab was an eye-opener.

“Some guy would come in and threaten one of the owners, girls would start throwing things behind the counter, yet the owner thought it was nothing, he was desensitised to it.

“I just thought maybe as a society this needs to be redressed, maybe it’s time we escalated this to a level where we can debate it a bit more.”

Filming will start on February 27 and the cast will include Ewen Macintosh, of The Office fame, and Darren Morfitt from BBC’s Atlantis.

The entire film will be shot in Bournemouth, with an empty shop in Gervis Road converted into a kebab shop.

But 27-year-old Dan, who studied at Bournemouth University, said there was nothing anti-Bournemouth about the film.

“It’s focused on the broader issues of binge drinking in general,” he said.

“Central Government can legislate and try and find new ways to combat the problems as they arise but cinema and art tries to reasonate with people on an emotional level, make them think personally about how they’re living their lives.

“I hope films like K-Shop will ultimately do that in an entertaining way.”

Anyone who would like to invest in K-Shop or help in any other way can contact White Lantern on 01202 290743.