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To mark the release of Harrigan on 13th January, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on DVD.

In a small northern town in 1974 law and order has broken down and the community seems to be falling apart. Their only hope is DS Barry Harrigan, just returned from duty in Hong Kong and rejoining the local police force. He realizes that crime is spreading like a disease and he must face up to the gangs terrorizing the local community. When he discovers that his friend has been brutally murdered his battle for justice becomes very personal.

Based on the real-life experiences of Arthur McKenzie, who was a highly commended policeman for 31 years and who has since gone on to become a best-selling author, the film is accompanied by a great retro soundtrack.

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Exclusive: Entertainment accountancy firm Nyman Libson Paul (Nlp) is launching new venture Goldfinch Pictures Ltd, dedicated to supporting British films.

Goldfinch Pictures Ltd is setting up an Eis company that aims to raise $6.5m (£4m) from investors.

Among the people who will sit on its expert panel are former British Film Commissioner Colin Brown and Stephen Evans, the producer of Oscar-winning films Henry V and The Madness of King George.

Goldfinch Pictures has been set up by Kirsty Bell, a film specialist and partner at Nyman Libson Paul. She will be managing director of the operation, which will support eight separate films over three years, all of which will be closely scrutinised and vetted by the expert panel, and have the appropriate approval from the Inland Revenue.

At the same time as launching Goldfinch Pictures, Nyman Libson Paul is putting together a number of smaller Seis operations aimed at particular sectors to include animation, ballet, Shakespeare...

★★☆☆☆ The very fact that the lead star of Vince Woods' hardboiled, alternative seventies crime drama Harrigan - British actor Stephen Tompkinson - is best-known for his work in several prime-time TV dramas gives a fair indication of the scale of this low-budget first feature. That's not to say that Woods lacks ambition; Harrigan is, for the most part, a serviceable genre piece that skews history for its own means, creating a northern dystopia rife with criminality and racial distrust. Unfortunately, such world-building exercises often require a certain level of funding, and there's something undeniably televisual about proceedings.

Following an ill-fated stint fighting corruption in British-held Hong Kong, self-styled detective Harrigan (Tompkinson) returns home to Newcastle to find not only the city but the entire country up to its neck in economic woe and social disorder. As the maverick cop rejoins his former constabulary, he finds the force on its...

Metro Manila | Diana | The Call | Ripd | Kelly + Victor | Hawking | Cold Comes The Night | A Belfast Story | Harrigan | InRealLife | 9.79* | Mademoiselle C | Phata Poster Nikla Hero

Metro Manila (15)

(Sean Ellis, 2013, UK/Phi) Jake Macapagal, Althea Vega, John Arcilla. 115 mins

Street-level social drama slyly develops into gripping crime thriller in this resourceful Anglo-Asian movie, a distinctive spin on the familiar theme of innocent country folk in the corrupting city. The squalor of modern-day Manila is vividly evoked, as our goodly, hard-up couple struggle to gain a foothold, but the opportunities they get only lead them into the moral shadows.

Diana (12A)

(Oliver Hirschbiegel, 2013, UK/Fra/Bel/Swe/Moz) Naomi Watts, Naveen Andrews. 113 mins

History repeats itself as farce in this unintentionally laughable rendition of Diana's final years and her "secret" affair. It's no deeper or better informed than your average celebrity mag.

The Call (15)

(Brad Anderson, 2013, Us) Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin, Michael Eklund.

The tax specialist recently produced UK feature Harrigan starring Stephen Tomkinson.

Kirsty Bell has joined entertainment accountants Nyman Libson Paul, as a partner.

A chartered tax adviser, Bell specialises in structuring film companies and accessing finance, including through Eis, and recovering tax credits. She previously ran her own practice in Newcastle.

Bell recently raised £1.3m for gritty UK police drama feature Harrigan, strarring Stephen Tomkinson, on which Bell is also a producer.

The film is written by Bell’s father, Arthur Mckenzie, based on his own experiences as a detective inspector in Newcastle.

Harrigan will have a limited release in the UK from September 20, before going on to screen at Busan.

Before British cop drama Harrigan hits our cinema screens on September 20, we had the great pleasure of speaking to the lead role, Detective Harrigan himself, Stephen Tompkinson.

Harrigan – which is director Vince Woods debut feature film, is set in a bleak, 1970s North East, where a close-to-retirement cop Barry Harrigan returns to his hometown with a score to settle. Tompkinson, who has made a name for himself in films such as Brassed Off and TV shows such as In Deep, speaks of his own experience in Britain from the time this film is set, and what attracted him to the role – while he reflects on what has been a triumphant, and certainly expansive career.

So what first attracted you to the role of Harrigan?

Vincent Woods, the film’s director, came to see me the year before we started shooting. I was doing live theatre in Newcastle in a play by my friend Shaun Prendergast,...

Fans of the television series I’m Alan Partridge will recall a plethora of ideas the failing presenter pitches to the commissioning editor of the BBC. One of which was ‘Swallow ‘ a regional detective series of a maverick, hard-nosed law enforcer who “isn’t afraid to break the law if he thinks it’s necessary”. Well, it seems that Vince Woods’ cop thriller Harrigan is a film not too dissimilar to the aforementioned idea, and one that Alan himself would be proud to have devised.

Set in a bitter winter of 1974 in the North of England, we follow Detective Sergeant Barry Harrigan (Stephen Tompkinson), an uncompromising officer of the law, who returns to his homeland following an unsavoury stint in Asia. Riddled with crime and political unrest, the community is in turmoil, and Harrigan – on the brink of retirement – sets out to straighten this town up once and for all,...