Hollywood director Tim Burton is to switch on this year’s Blackpool Illuminations, the lights festival that has been held annually in the seaside town since 1879.
Burton, whose films include cult classics Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, as well as blockbusters Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland, has previously described himself as “Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s biggest fan”. The director has been a regular visitor to the town in recent years, shooting scenes there for his latest film Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and the music video for Here With Me by US band the Killers.
He will turn on the lights in front of a crowd of 20,000 people following a concert on 4 September, which includes acts such as The Vamps, Lawson and Professor Green.
The illuminations are switched on each year at the end of August or the beginning of September and run for 66 days. Dubbed “the greatest free light show on earth”, they span a six-mile radius along the Promenade from Squires Gate to Red Bank Road, and include more than one million bulbs.
Other public figures to have previously switched on the lights include then Soviet ambassador to the UK, Yacov Malik, in 1955, actor Jayne Mansfield in 1958, Doctor Who star Tom Baker in 1975, and comedian Peter Kay in 2014.
Gillian Campbell, deputy leader of Blackpool council, said: “Having one of the most famous film directors in the world turn on the Blackpool Illuminations is a major coup and shows the high regard the town is held in the hearts of our famous visitors.
“We know he is a huge fan of Blackpool and we are delighted that he has agreed to switch the Illuminations on for us on the biggest night of Blackpool’s year. This is gearing up to be one of the best switch-on events we have ever had.”
