The Gallows Pole: Shane Meadows does period drama - starring an office worker and a mechanic

By Ian YoungsEntertainment & arts reporter

Director Shane Meadows has made his first period drama, about a little-known criminal mastermind from the 18th century. The cast includes established and rookie actors, from a mechanic to a financial manager.

Stevie Binns says his friends had a longtime joke about his broad accent . So when they saw a social media post looking for people with Yorkshire accents to star in a new TV series, they tagged it.

"I think it was a bit of a sneaky dig from my friend," she said with a smile.

Binns, from Halifax, is a team leader in the financial industry and had never considered acting "I had made a grand total of nothing at all."

Although she may have taken the announcement as a joke, she decided to give it a go.

"I thought, why not ? It was Covid times and I had been stuck at home with my cat for a very long time. So I thought I'd try something different, and sent in a tape."

She had the last laugh. Her tape audition won him a role in The Gallows Pole of Meadows, which is set in West Yorkshire in the 1760s and starts on BBC Two this week.