FROM a flat above a leather goods store on the Holloway Road, Joe Meek developed new techniques in recording, made groundbreaking hit singles, and became the premier independent pop producer working in Britain during the late-50s and early-60s.

His story is recaptured in Nick Moran’s keenly anticipated new movie Telstar, one of the gala screenings of the London Film Festival, and a passion close to its creators heart.

Moran, of Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels fame, has already written a dramatisation of Meek’s life for the stage, that premiered to widespread acclaim in 2005, and has now turned the story into a film.

A strong British cast also includes Oscar winning American actor Kevin Spacey, as well as cameos from some of the surviving music figures of the day, and contemporary favourites such as Justin Hawkins, playing Screaming Lord Such, and Carl Barat, of Libertines fame.

Commenting on the London Film Festival website, Michael Hayden credits Moran with making “an exceptional directorial debut”, with Con O’Neill, reprising the role of Meek he took on stage, giving “a tour de force performance as the warped genius”.

He concludes: “Funny, touching and suitably strange in parts, bringing this story to the screen has clearly been a labour of love for Moran, and it is the story of the music as much as it is of the man, with those hits such as Johnny Remember Me, Have I The Right, Just Like Eddie and the indomitable Telstar presented to great, stirring effect.”

• Delicious
• Digg
• Reddit
• Facebook
• Stumbleupon