Deadline looms for Ken's dream

May 27 2003 By Jane Yelland, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

SUMMER Wine actor Ken Kitson will learn in the next two weeks whether his dream to make his own film in Yorkshire will come true.

He is due to meet possible backers for his bid to get the project off the ground.

He said this year he was setting a deadline of July 7 - his 57th birthday - or he would return any money.

Ken wrote the script for Dreamcatcher, a romantic comedy Western, 10 years ago.

His bids for cash were rejected by the normal channels - so he set about raising the £2m needed by himself.

Ken, who has played a policemen in Last of the Summer Wine for 23 years, held an auction at the Cedar Court Hotel at Ainley Top in March.

He has also received money ranging from £1,000 to £40,000 from individual investors.

"I have some meetings next week with four big hitters who are interested," said Ken. "We are talking big money.

"I will know possibly at the end of this week, but definitely by the end of next, whether we have got the go-ahead or not."

Dreamcatcher focuses on Will Case, a 40-year-old Wild West enthusiast, who dresses as a cowboy and still lives at home with his parents in Yorkshire.