Hollywood comes to Yorkshire for lights fantastic

But what Yorkshire pensioner Eric Marshall can do with some light bulbs, a set of ladders and a spot of imagination has got Tinsel Town beating a path to his front door.

Mr Marshall, 71, has made a name for himself in Bagby, near Thirsk, with his eye-catching Christmas lights which, for years, have taken over his home and his garden.

But not being much on computers, he never dreamed that his achievements would one day find their way via the internet to Los Angeles.

So when he did pick up the phone to find Hollywood on the line, naturally he was suspicious of the smooth-talking caller with the American accent.

"The phone rang two weeks before Christmas," he said. "A voice said: 'Tinseltown here, Hollywood, Los Angeles.'

"I listened and thought 'What the hell is this?' I thought it was my mate pulling my leg.

"So I put the phone down, saying 'You will have to try something different.'

"Then they rang back and said 'It really is Tinseltown. Don't hang up'."

For a film crew who have travelled all the way to Mr Marshall's home from Los Angeles, seeing was believing yesterday as they put the finishing touches to a Discovery Channel broadcast starring the pensioner and his home-spun Christmas lights decorations.

"I could not believe they would come from America to film my garden," Mr Marshall added.

"I am old-fashioned. I do not have a computer. I have a friend who has Skype so I went to her house and took pictures of the lights and Skyped it over to Los Angeles."

The documentary team were even more impressed when they finally arrived at the house this week and saw the moving displays for themselves, rather than judging the impact from still photographs.

Mr Marshall also laid out the miniature railway he usually only has on display during the summer.

It includes signals, four separate tracks, water features and bridges, a windmill, a cable car and myriad buildings and details – all hand built by the amateur craftsman, who is also a train-spotter.

The programme is due to go out next Christmas on a special programme about the pensioner's 15-year mission to raise money for good causes by turning his home into a winter wonderland.

"I just set off with a Santa and sleigh," he said.

"All the kids came and were delighted so the next year I bought a few more and it snowballed from there."

Displays made up of hundreds of bulbs annually fill the garden and the roof of his detached house, raising cash for MacMillan nurses and the local St Mary's Church.

It takes three weeks of clambering about the roof to get all 1,000 lights in place every November.

This year they included Father Christmas on swings, reindeers, a train set laid out in the garden next to a Christmas tree and Christmas carols playing in the background.

The film crew of six was due to visit at Christmas but could not get into Heathrow because of the weather.

So putting superstition aside, Mr Marshall, a former print manager with Thirsk-based Hills Prints, agreed to leave the lights up until filming wrapped last night.

The bulbs will be going back in their boxes again today until mid-November when Mr Marshall will getting out his ladders.

He does not know how long he can keep up with his personal tradition but might consider calling it a day after Christmas 2012.

"It is getting a bit much clambering about on a roof at my age and there is no one else to do it," he added.

"So it might be time to put my feet up in a couple of years."

Display pulls in charity money

Mr Marshall's lights have raised more than 15,000 over the past 15 years.

He has also been involved in other fundraising activities such as doing the Lyke Wake Walk.

All the money raised goes to local hospitals and cancer sufferers.

As well as the lights in winter he also lays out a train set in his garden to raise funds over the summer months.

People come from as far away as Whitby to see the house and garden decked out in lights and to watch the toy trains which have even made him a regular stop on summer guided tours.

No expense has been spared for the documentary.

As well as flying in a six-strong US crew and their PA the team hired a cherry picker for overhead shots.