News

Two actors from Kent have landed featured roles in the Ian Dury biopic, 'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll'.

Richard Philips from Blean and Karol Steele from Dover will appear in the film as two members of the five-person medical team at Truro Hospital who treat the young Ian Dury after he is struck down with polio.

Richard and Karol travelled to Egham in Surrey this week to shoot the scenes with the young actor playing the young Ian, Wesley Nelson, in the Runnymead Campus buildings of Brunel University. Karol was also involved in several scenes set in the disabled children's home, Chailey Heritage Craft School, in which Dury spent four years of his life.
 

The Truro hospital medical team L to R - Giulio Miglietta (Ward Orderly), Karol Steele (Nurse), Gerald Fit, Paul Simmons and Richard Philips (Doctors)

The film also stars Lord of the Rings film star Andy Serkis as punk legend, Ian Dury; Ray Winstone as Ian's father, William; Bill Milner as Baxter; and Naomie Harris as Denise. The film is directed by Mat Whitecross and produced by Damian Jones.

The film has particular significance for both Richard and Karol. Richard was a student at the Canterbury College of Art during Ian Dury's time there as a lecturer, taking many lesson's with him. The film is due to be released on the weekend of the tenth anniversary of Ian Dury's death, 26 March 2010, which is also Karol's 48th birthday.

Karol said, "The film is promising to be an excellent telling of the life history of Ian Dury, from his early horrifying experiences of 1950's medical treatment of polio, through his time in the seventies punk scene, up to his death due to liver cancer in 2000. We're all looking forward to the film's release next year."