A former Royal Marine has made a hard-hitting short film thanking our NHS heroes.
Phil Spencer, 31, has made the moving film featuring a host of celebs including Korean war veteran Colin Thackery, who won last year's Britain's Got Talent, and singer James Blunt, a former British army officer who served in Kosovo.
They are joined by Cold Feet actress Fay Ripley, classical musician and Smooth Radio presenter Myleene Klass, actresses Imogen Stubbs and Tracey Ann Obermann, soprano Laura Wright and former Royal Marine medic Lance Corporal Cassidy Little to say a heartfelt thanks with NHS Thank You.
The film’s cast also includes members of the Soldiers’ Arts Academy, which creates arts projects with serving and ex-military personnel and their families, and they each present a line of a poem written by Phil to thank the NHS for the work they're doing on the coronavirus frontline.
The cast didn’t hesitate when they were asked to come on board for the film which is now available to view online on YouTube.
It was made within 24-hours, entirely remotely, during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Middleton-born ex marine Phil, who served in Afghanistan, said: “It has been so gratifying to work with such a willing and very talented cast of people who, without exception, agreed to take and present a line from my poem without a second thought."
After being medically discharged Phil is now a filmmaker and poet and currently a scholar on the British Forces Broadcasting Service production course, specialising in providing media services to the UK Armed Forces.
Music in the film is provided by veteran Kathryn Harris.
The film was prompted by a request to support the Project Ares initiative set up by University of Liverpool Psychological Sciences to help NHS staff during the COVID-19 crisis.
The university has made free resources and training materials to help NHS staff cope mentally in these most testing of times and a link to Project Ares is included in the film credits.
Phil joined the Royal Marines in 2008 and served for 11 years before being medically discharged last October because of old injuries sustained in combat in Afghanistan.
He joined the Soldiers' Arts Academy when he found out that he was going to be discharged from the marines.
"I was lost and discovering the arts helped me find the right path forwards," he explained.
"That got me into filmmaking."
Phil's first screenplay Big Brother starred Sense and Sensibility actress Imogen.
The second House Hunting was commissioned by an Arts Council grant with Exeter Phoenix, to show how Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can affect people.
Phil told us: "The NHS Thank You film was made to do just that.
"A bunch of creatives, doing what they can to try and support the NHS's efforts.
"These trying times are really giving us a sense of unity, reminding us how great we can be when we all pull together."
