Thousands of film and television fans came together today as the annual Stars and Cars event returned to Bolton Arena.
The event showcased the ‘largest selection of replica movie and television vehicles in Europe' and gave people the chance to meet some of their favourite stars including Steve Pemberton, Caroline Munro and Sylvester McCoy.
There was also a huge selection of characters and an array of stalls full of memorabilia and merchandise.
Every penny of profit made from Stars and Cars 2024 is donated to Derian House Children's Hospice in Chorley.
The donations help them to provide care and respite for children with life-limiting or life-shortening conditions.
Mick Croskery and Colin Wilby organised the event which saw 4,000 tickets sold.
Speaking about the response, Colin said: “We were inspired to set up this event because of our huge love of cars and wanting to achieve something a little different to what is currently out there in the Comic Con world.
“We love cars and we have been characters ourselves with professional costuming and have a lot of friends who also want to do charity work.
“We have had close to 4,000 tickets sold and it attracts an audience of people from aged four up to 90 - everyone loves something in the room."
He continued: “I am from Chorley, and we decided to pick Derian House as it is our local children’s hospice and as well as the fundraising this event provides it also gives the opportunity to bring the children down from the hospice and they can have a day in Disneyland and make memories with their families.
“The events we have done over the years have raised more than £100,000 for Derian House so far.
“We would like to thank everyone for their time and thank all of our volunteers, no one takes any money from this event they are all volunteers, and all the money goes to Derian House.”
@theboltonnews Thousands flocked to Bolton Arena today for the annual Stars and Cars event. We spoke to Hacker the Dog, Caroline Munro and Steve Pemberton. For the full story go to The Bolton News website.
♬ original sound - The Bolton News
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Steve Pemberton, an actor and writer from Chorley, who has starred in Benidorm and The League of Gentlemen, had a meet and greet with fans.
Speaking to the Bolton News, he looked back on his time on Benidorm and his favourite moment so far in his career.
Steve said: “Benidorm is over 10 years old now and it was one of my favourite jobs ever, you got to turn up to work every day and you are wearing swimwear, you’re lying by a pool, with some amazing people.
“One of my favourite scenes was when we had the Olympic swimming team and we all had to jump in the pool in the night and we had fireworks going off and everything.
“I don’t believe there is anything planned for a revival of Benidorm but if there was I would be there.
“I’m from Chorley so this for me is a local gig for local people and I really love coming back here and seeing how people remember those League of Gentlemen characters and they are just as big fans now as they were 25 years ago.
“That is what kicked us all off and it will have a very special part in my heart forever.”
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Steve spoke about the response he had from fans at the event.
He said: “I’ve just had so much love, so much love for everything that I have done from League of Gentlemen, Inside No 9, White Chapel, Benidorm and it is just overwhelming really that people are just so excited and still remember stuff that is so old.”
Fans of James Bond also had a chance to meet and greet with Caroline Munro who starred as the villainess Naomi in the 1977 Roger Moore James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me.
Speaking about her time in James Bond and meeting Roger Moore, Caroline said: “I suppose meeting Roger and Lewis Gilbert, Richard Kiel and Barbara Bach, meeting the cast was one of my favourite moments.
“But actually, filming on location in Sardinia was pretty incredible, we had one week of terrible weather so we couldn’t film anything because my scenes were all in the helicopter and at sea and then when the sun came out the producers said right we are going to film.
“And that was so exciting to actually shoot the film, very lucky.
“Roger Moore in person was one of the sweetest, kindest, funniest, cheekiest, most modest men I have ever had the delight to work with.
“I loved working with him, he was just so generous, he would be there when I did my close ups, and it was just amazing to have him do that.”
She said: “For me I love Tom Hardy, I think he is a fantastic actor, he is the Daniel Craig type of actor that I like, very realistic and gorgeous.
“Idris Elba would be a good choice, he would be a different choice, he would be fabulous, again, a wonderful actor.
“They do need a Bond for now that includes all the young people for now because you need to have that young audience as well as the older audience.
“There is lots more to come, Bond is forever.”
The event attracted thousands of people and was a huge hit with the local community with an array of characters to meet including all the Marvel superheroes, Star Wars characters, Ghostbusters and more.
If you have a story or something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at chloe.wilson@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on X @chloewjourno.
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