Film maker John Matthews launches brand new channel

Jenny Tinmouth

Film maker John Matthews has launched a brand new channel this week.

John, who was born and raised in Rochdale and directed the ITV film ‘Joey – the Man Who Conquered the TT,’ which was shown on ITV4 on Tuesday (9 June), decided to launch the new motorcyclists and petrol head channel in TT this week.

John said: “There are 40,000 motorcycling fans on the Isle of Man this week and a whole lot more who would like to be there, so it struck me as being the perfect week to launch the channel. Also one of my films was on the telly on Tuesday so what better timing?”

One of the channels new shows, which is produced entirely for the internet, is presented by former British Champion James Whitham, who also presents Superbikes on SKY and Jenny Tinmouth, who holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest woman to lap the TT.

John added: “The programme is all about having fun on motorbikes and having fun with speed. It goes back to the days when I did comedy and is about having a laugh.

“As you will see I have had direct experience of the extreme skill of James Whitham’s riding – he is a talented rider, a brilliant presenter and a lot of fun to work with. We have shot about three films so far -whilst the Joey Dunlop story ends in tragedy, our new programme is entirely happy – the premise is having fun on bikes on the cheap. Fun is the focus of the whole thing.”

Bigger Picture Films decided to launch the new show immediately after ITV showed John’s film.

He added: “I am very excited about this new venture as it puts us directly in contact with our own audience. I’m a keen motorcyclist myself, doing some competing on classic bikes. This is a programme for motorcyclists made by motorcyclists, and you can tell.”

Presenter James Whitham said: “What I like about the show is that we can do whatever we want and we are free to have fun. I like working with these guys and they make excellent films. You can already see it’s going to be very popular.’

‘Speed on a Shoestring’ (www.speedonashoestring.com) has been seed-funded by crowd funding.

John said: “What this means is that ordinary people have put their hands in their pockets to have something made that they are genuinely interested in which makes this series quite unique. A lot of people have invested into this and you can feel the anticipation. I am extremely humbled by their generosity.”