The Maltings Theatre and Cinema, Berwick-Upon-Tweed, Hosts Cast & Crew at screening in The Railway Man’s Hometown

Eric Lomax’s life is the subject of best selling novel, The Railway Man, which has recently been made into a movie, starring Colin Firth and Jeremy Irvine.  The movie premiered at The Toronto International Film Festival, back in September 2013, but the first chance to see it in the UK was a special preview run from 3 January 2014 at The Maltings Theatre and Cinema in Berwick-Upon-Tweed, Eric Lomax’s home town.

What made this preview run even more special was the fact that stars Colin Firth and Jeremy Irvine, along with scriptwriters Frank Cottrell Boyce, Andy Paterson, and producer Bill Curbishley attended the first screening and stayed for a Q&A session with the audience after. Unusually, both actors were able to meet the man they were to portray in the film, which tells of his harrowing ordeal at the hands of the Japanese during the Second World War.

Both actors said that making the film was unlike anything else they had done.

Firth said: "It has been an immense experience compared with anything I have ever done and has not ended with the shoot as it is still going on here and now. When we went to visit Eric and Patti, we entered the story and became part of it in a way.

"It is not just what happened to him in 1942 and beyond - it is about the telling of these things and it is a testament to storytelling itself.”

Mrs Lomax, Eric’s Widow, said: "I think it is a marvellous film. It catches the feelings of confusion and fright and wondering what on earth is going on when someone is having problems they cannot express to you."

She added: “Eric’s book was written here so this is where it all began. Eric and I belong to Berwick - it’s a very special place. This is bringing the story home.”

Currently at number 11 in the UK Box Office, with a cume of £4.1m after two weeks on general release, The Railway Man tells the story of Eric Lomax, a British officer who is captured by the Japanese in Singapore and sent to a POW camp, where he is forced to work on the Thai-Burma Railway. During his time in the camp, Lomax is tortured by the Kempetai, primarily for building a radio.

Years later, still suffering the psychological trauma of his wartime experiences, Lomax, with the help of his wife Patti, and best friend Finlay (Stellan Skarsgård), decides to find and confront one of his captors. Lomax returns to the scene of his torture and manages to track down his captor, Japanese officer Takashi Nagase (Hiroyuki Sanada), from the prison camp, "in an attempt let go of a lifetime of bitterness and hate"

“It’s taken a long time to make this film, but I was determined to do it,” explains producer Andy Paterson.

“There are some projects that you realise aren’t going to happen, but this was a story that would never let you go. Every time I finished a film I’d come back to this one.”

The film rights were initially secured by The Who manager, Bill Curbishley, one of the film’s producers, who felt an immediate affinity with the story.

“I read the book and what struck me, apart from the incredible suffering of Eric Lomax, was the act of forgiveness,” he said. “To forgive on that level - I have admiration for people who do things I can’t do - and I couldn’t have forgiven.

“I came to see Eric and Patti and I thought they were fantastic. I persuaded them to give me the film rights. I had to make it - I became a little obsessed with it.”