GRAHAM Fellows, the man behind that funny fellow John Shuttleworth, will hold a question-and-answer session after tonight’s 8.30pm screening of his spoof documentary Southern Softies (U) at City Screen, York.

In an investigative film written, directed and produced by Fellows for Northern Pictures and Chic Ken Productions, hapless Sheffield singer, organist and life tipster Shuttleworth ventures to the Channel Islands to discover whether the further south you go, the softer people become.

Southern Softies forms the follow-up to Shuttleworth’s first stab at being a latterday Alan Whicker in It’s Nice Up North, his Shetlands travelogue that The Times reviewer deemed to be “a bit of a shambles frankly, and utterly inspired”.

Graham said: “A sequel seemed a natural move, with the Channel Islands the obvious location for filming. Dressing up as my alter ego, John Shuttleworth, I meandered for a week through Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and the mysterious Sark, talking to whoever I bumped into, and asking them the all-important question, ‘Is it soft down South?’.”

Accompanied on camcorder by his incompetent agent Ken Worthington, and later (when Ken went AWOL) by a roller-skating camera operator called Faye, John met a host of fascinating people, and one or two boring ones.

“As in It’s Nice Up North, the high level of ‘unpreparedness’ occasionally caused problems, but as often as not reaped dividends,” says Graham.

“For instance, a musical performance by John in a venue of samba-loving holidaymakers went down disastrously, with most of the audience not liking John’s performance one bit. Better research might have led us to shoot in a more sympathetic venue, but the results on screen more than compensate for any awkwardness felt at the time – and are perfectly in keeping with John Shuttleworth’s status as a failed wannabe singer/organist.”

Working in such an ad hoc, DIY fashion leads to more unusual and interesting results, according to Graham. “Without the normal restrictions of a scarily big budget [the film cost £12,000] and ‘real’ deadlines, I was able to pick up and put down the movie at will over a period of many months; reflect, go back and unravel, then rebuild – not unlike knitting a sweater, or making a model out of clay,” he says.

“Then, by using freeze framing, fast forwarding and reversing footage, adding John’s freestyle voiceovers, the movie can develop in various directions – often well away from the mood suggested in the original footage.”

What exactly is Southern Softies about, Graham? “Well, to be honest, very little,” he admits. “The plot is reasonably complicated, but totally inconsequential, as is the search for the Southern Softies. We realised this ourselves, one day into filming, having interviewed a few dozen puzzled Channel Islanders.

“What is a Southern Softy anyway? Besides, who cares? Even John Shuttleworth freely admits that it’s a silly quest.

“But this failing, I’ve decided, helps to strengthen the film’s core message: that this movie is a metaphor for life – it has little meaning, it meanders and is essentially a silly quest, but hopefully a few laughs are to be had along the way.”

For tickets, phone 0871 704 2054 or book online at picturehouses.co.uk