DENCH Judi-Robert Wilson

Source: Getty

Judi Dench

Shooting has commenced in London on Pathe’s Allelujah, an adaptation of the stage play written by Alan Bennett.

Notes On A Scandal’s Richard Eyre directs with Call The Midwife creator Heidi Thomas adapting the screenplay.

Damian Jones and Kevin Loader produce. The duo previously worked on the adaptation of Bennett’s memoir, The Lady And The Van.

Judi Dench, Jennifer Saunders, Bally Gill, Russell Tovey, David Bradley and Derek Jacobi star.

Allelujah is a Pathé, BBC Film and Ingenious Media presentation of a DJ Films and Redstart Production.

Pathé will distribute the film in the UK, France and Switzerland and will handle sales for the rest of the world.

The feature is set on a geriatric ward in a small Yorkshire town that comes under threat of closure, and attempts to fight back by inviting a news crew to film their preparations for a concert in honour of the hospital’s most distinguished nurse.

Executive producers are Cameron McCracken and Jenny Borgars for Pathé; Rose Garnett for BBC Film; Andrea Scarso for Ingenious Media; Alan Bennett and Nicholas Hytner.