A PRODUCER from Winchester is preparing for the first showing of her $2m-budget film in her home city.

Claire Lewis spent three years working on The End of the Line, a not-for-profit documentary on over-fishing.

Ted Danson, the former star of US sitcom, Cheers, is narrating the film, as he is a long-standing ocean campaigner.

The piece is based on a book of the same title.

Environmental journalist, Charles Clover, warns in it that all seafood could be extinct by 2048 if current fishing rates continue.

When Mrs Lewis read it, she wanted to spread the word on the big screen.

She said: "I read Charles Clover’s book and it changed my view of the ocean overnight. I rang him and the rest is history.

"This issue is the biggest environmental problem the world has never heard of."

Since 2002 she has been a freelance producer, having previously worked for the BBC, Meridian and Granada. Her previous work includes the 7-Up documentary series.

The mother-of-four from Salters Lane, Teg Down, assembled a team of five to secure the money required, and raised $2m in Britain and America.

The documentary took two years to film, and includes underwater camerawork and scenes shot in Japan, Alaska, and the Mediterranean Sea.

It received its first showing in January at the Sundance Festival for independent films in America.

The piece was one of 16 chosen from 744 submissions for the event in Park City, Utah.

It was then shown to the Prince of Wales in early April at Clarence House, and Mrs Lewis had the chance to meet him.

Several celebrities were invited to attend a preview in London on Monday, including Ralph Fiennes, Greta Saatchi and Stephen Fry.

Regional previews will then be held tomorrow (Monday, June 8), to co-incide with World Ocean Day.

One will be at The Screen in Southgate Street, Winchester, at 7.30pm. See Thursday's Chronicle (June 11) for a review.

Mrs Lewis will be there for a question-and-answer session with the audience.

The film will also be shown at the Harbour Lights in Ocean Village, Southampton, the same evening.

Depending on how the previews go, the film could be put on general release across Britain.

Call The Screen on 01962 877007 for more details about the Winchester preview.