RED Dwarf's Kryten has logged on to the Regal Trust Campaign with offers of help to save the cinema.

Robert Llewellyn, who plays the sci-fi metal man in the cult TV show, lives locally with his wife, writer Judy Pascoe and son Louis.

As a Regal cinema-goer he has agreed to become a patron of the Regal Trust with Oscar winning director Anthony Minghella.

Mr Llewellyn is also connected to the movie industry now the Red Dwarf team is making its first feature film, and his novel The Man on Platform Five, tipped as a future blockbuster, is being developed by Hollywood moguls.

"I'd love to see both the films on that huge screen. It's what makes cinema different from TV. We must do everything we can to preserve it and I urge everyone to do whatever they can to support the campaign," he said.

So far Vale people have pledged £20,000 to the Evesham Regal Trust campaign to run the Regal as a public amenity. Both district and Evesham town councils, however, have been reticent in backing the scheme.

Trust chairman Martin Hammon said: "I can understand councillors' concerns about where the money is coming from - given time we are confident we can raise it.

"We need their support at least morally - and probably financially - when we have come up with a comprehensive feasibility study and are applying for matched funding from national bodies such as the Lottery.

"If Wychavon back our scheme in preference to an alternative entertainment company's, we can provide so much more than just showing films because we will not have the profit element to satisfy."

Wychavon's chief executive, Sid Pritchard said: "The council is not committing itself to anything until we receive a feasibility study and the full facts are known."

In a letter to Trust members he said they should not compare the council's involvement with No 8 in Pershore with the Regal campaign.

Unlike Evesham he said Pershore had no arts centre and negotiations with campaigners had been taking place for sometime before Wychavon stepped in.

He said that listing the building had cut down the options for its use. He also said that he had heard rumours that a developer wanted to turn the Regal into a block of flats and to satisfy cinema goers, put a picture house in the former Kwik Save building.

Meanwhile . . .

it was business as usual for the Port Street cinema on Monday when Regal staff and the Journal got together to provide about 300 local pensioners with a free film show, with mince pies and sherry courtesy of Evesham's Co-op store in the Riverside shopping centre.

The pensioners sat back and enjoyed Shakespeare In Love, the delightful blockbuster which tells the story of the Bard's early days.

The film show is an annual treat for the town's senior citizens which manager Irene McKenzie has organised for many years and this year's proved to be no exception with the film getting the thumbs up.