Denise thrilled by film award

GEORDIE favourite Denise Welch is delighted that her powerful film about depression has just won an award at a film festival in the US.

Her short film, Black Eyed Susan, scooped a best short drama award at Silicon Beach Film Festival in California.

It is a very personal success for the actress because the film captures the depression that has plagued her life for years.

Denise has just returned from LA - where she watched the festival screening with her American friends - but was not there to see it take the prize as she had to miss the awards ceremony to fly back early to meet an appointment at Hexham Book Festival last night.

The first she heard was when she awoke on touch down at the airport and tweeted her followers to say: “Waking up to amazing news that we won!”

She told us: “I’m absolutely thrilled to bits. It’s great!”

The Loose Women star, Denise Welch who has spoken movingly about her 28-year battle with clinical depression, had been keen to bring mental illness into the spotlight.

She teamed up with North East-born writer Nick Rowntree, who also directed, and the result is a psychological drama about a woman who is trapped in her home by a teenage boy and becomes suicidal.

Denise’s husband, the artist Lincoln Townley, a co-producer alongside her, collected the award in LA on her behalf.

The actress’s family were also very much involved. Son Louis features alongside her in the drama and elder son Matty - singer in the band The 1975 - created an original soundtrack for it.