In 1980s Manchester, the place to be was the Hacienda.  On show there were the likes of New Order, the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays.  However the soundtrack for that era could be found at Salford Lads Club where a home-grown band called The Smiths were gaining a reputation and a cult following.

However the buzz that surrounded them wasn't down to bassist Andy Rourke, drummer Mike Joyce or even influential guitarist Johnny Marr.  The epitomy of the band was one Stephen Patrick Morrissey.

Although the band didn't eclipse New Order or the Happy Mondays in terms of record sales, they created a legacy and inspired a new generation of musicians.  Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher commented on how Marr's guitar chords on 'How Soon Is Now' inspired him to get into the music industry.

When The Smiths split in 1987, many believed that the band members would drift into obscurity.  Nothing could've been further from the truth for Morrissey.  Within a year of the breakup of The Smiths, he released his first solo album.

Despite performing such classic tunes as 'Still Ill' and 'This Charming Man', Morrissey is better known for his own solo efforts, 'Every Day Is Like Sunday' and 'First Of The Gang To Die' being two notable inclusions.

After a brief lull in production in the 1990s, the 'Mozfather' returned in 2003 with 'You Are The Quarry'.  In 2006 his follow-up album 'Ringleader of the Tormentors' reached the number 1 spot.

Morrissey has taken on several guises throughout his solo career, his most recent spring to mind when he went from posing as an American gangland boss for the release of 'You Are The Quarry' to an Italian impressario for 'Ringleader of the Tormentors'.  The latter appears to have been inspired by his decision to move to Rome from Los Angeles and teaming up with legendary T-Rex producer Tony Visconti.

As someone who saw Morrissey live, I must confess I'm not a big fan of his or The Smiths but I think that 'How Soon Is Now' was a song that summed up Britain in the 1980s during the miners' strike and other events that took place during Thatcherism.

Twenty years after the break-up of The Smiths, Morrissey is still
performing and shows no signs of slowing down.

I didn't even consider listening to any Smiths records until a mate of mine raved on about how great the band and Morrissey were a year or so ago.  When I saw Morrissey perform at Alexandra Palace in May 2006, his eccentricism came across loud and clear as he changed shirts three times in the hour he was on stage.  He appears to be an elequently spoken individual and doesn't shy away from the issue of his sexuality.

People have commented that his songs sound depressing and monotonous but I believe that shows the talent he has to conjure up such emotions into songs.  Record sales don't lie and his almost God-like status in the States is testament to his talent.

I believe that if The Smiths had continued to perform that they would've eclipsed some of the bands that were by-products of the 'Madchester' scene.  Morrissey has proved that he has stood the test of time in both apperance and performance and he has proved that he is here for the long term.

Apologies for stating the obvious but football is governed by the almighty buck and club's fortunes are dictated by over-paid egotistical players.

Loyalty counts for nothing any more.  Steven Gerrard proved that when he put Liverpool supporters through emotional torture in summer 2004 and 2005 claiming he wanted to leave the club.  In my opinion, the one thing that kept him at Anfield was the fact that the club were held to ransom and had to beat Chelsea's weekly wage offer.  His team-mate Jamie Carragher, another highly-rated player, did not hold the club to ransom and threaten to walk if he didn't get his own way.  Carragher conducted himself off the field the way he does on it - with minimum fuss or attention and was more than happy to pledge his future to Liverpool in summer 2005.

There are several more shining examples of financially-driven players and once again they do involve Liverpool Football Club.

Cast your mind back to summer 2005, Liverpool had just won the Champions League, Steven Gerrard had pledged his future to the club and all seemed positive at Anfield.  Meanwhile in Madrid a disgruntled Michael Owen, who had twelve months previous left Anfield to win trophies in pastures new, wanted a return back home in order to help him fulfil this ambition and cement a regular place in the England team.

The sale of Wayne Rooney to Manchester United upset and angered
Evertonians who never thought their hero would turn his back on them.

There were reports in the media that both Liverpool and Newcastle United were both in for his signiture.  Michael had one of two choices - to return to the club who had made him into the internationally recognised star he was, or to go to Newcastle and create a new legacy for himself.

Michael chose the latter but it seems that his motives for snubbing a return to Merseyside in favour of running out in front of the Gallowgate end every other Saturday were motivated by money.

For the second time in two years, Owen had turned his back on the club who had nurtured him from an early age for pastures new and it appeared to have been the wrong choice on both counts.  In the 2004-05 season, Owen played in a trophyless season for Real Madrid whilst his old club Liverpool were crowned Champions of Europe.  The following season Owen featured (briefly) in another trophyless season, this time with Newcastle while Liverpool won the FA Cup.

The other notable and even comical example of how players are driven by money is Lucas Neill, currently of West Ham United.  There was a lot of talk in the media that Liverpool were interested in Neill as a replacement for what appeared to be the outgoing Sami Hyypia.  These reports confirmed what most people in the game had known already - that Neill was unhappy at Blackburn and wanted a new challenge.

Days before the transfer deadline, Neill snubbed Liverpool in favour of West Ham United.  He said in the press conference that he had always wanted to come to West Ham and that Liverpool never wanted him.  To be honest anyone would find the statement about preferring West Ham to Liverpool laughable as he would've had Champions League experience at Anfield instead of the relegation struggle he is currently involved in at Upton Park.  At the age of 29, his chances of reaching the Champions League with the Hammers is a very bleak possibility.

Another example of how finance is valued more over loyalty is the transfer of Wayne Rooney from Everton to Manchester United in August 2004.  Rooney had progressed through the club's academy system and had a remarkable Euro 2004.  Prior to the tournament in Portugal, Rooney had revealed a t-shirt proclaiming 'once a blue, always a blue' which left most fans to presume that he was an Evertonian for life and wouldn't turn his back on the club even if the financial overtures of bigger clubs were a-calling.  Wrong again.  Rooney turned down Everton's offer of a new contract in favour of a move to Old Trafford.

As I said before, proof if ever it was needed that loyalty counts for nothing in this game.

However for every set of self-obsessed players who turn their backs on their clubs, there's always one who doesn't adhere to the rule.

The shining example of this is Liverpool's Robbie Fowler who captained the club to a cup treble in 2001.  Fowler was sold to Leeds in November of that year despite protests that he didn't want to leave the club he loved.  When Rafael Benitez offered Fowler the chance to return to Anfield in January 2006, the Kop favourite jumped at the chance and even took a pay cut, such was his determination to pull on the red shirt again.

Unfortunately in today's money-driven game, not everyone is as loyal as Robbie Fowler.

Eighteen years on from the horrendous events of Hillsborough, the people of Liverpool have made their feelings known by signing a petition on the government's website asking the prime minister to authorise a new enquiry into the disaster that claimed the lives of ninety six Liverpool supporters.

The feelings of supporters not only in Merseyside but across the world are ones that haven't changed one iota since 15th April 1989.  The verdict retured in 1991 left many questions unanswered, which were documented in Jimmy McGovern's docudrama 'Hillsborough' in 1996.

As someone who has grown up in Liverpool in the shadow of the disaster (many of my relatives were on the Leppings Lane terrace on that fateful day), I know that the Hillsborough families, survivors and campaigners want the true facts to be established in a court of law and the myths about Hillsborough dispelled.

Even though I was very young in 1989, I've studied a lot of documents and material relating to the disaster as well as speaking to survivors and there are several questions I would liked answered:

Why was the gate at Leppings Lane not closed followng the crush outside the ground? Surely the FA and South Yorkshire Police didn't want any fans entering the already pack to capacity pens.

Secondly, why did the police deny the paramedics and firefighters access to the stadium when they had received a call for oxygen and wire cutters to be brought to Hillsborough stadium.

Finally why did the police insist on forcing fans back into the crush on the terrace when they knew that peoples' lives were in danger?

They are the three main questions I want answering and I'm sure that most Liverpool fans will agree with me on that.

Some people have said that after eighteen years we should just 'let it go'.  To those people I ask you, what if it was your child, partner, parent, grandparent or even friend who lost their life on the Leppings Lane terrace in such tragic circumstances that people were accountable for, would you let it go? I think not.

The fight for justice will never go away until the facts are established and the people responsible are held accountable for their actions.

You can view and even sign the petition at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/JusticeForThe96

Liverpool and Manchester have always been cities locked in rivalry from football to music.  In the 1960s Liverpool had The Beatles whilst Manchester had Freddie and the Dreamers.  In the 1980s, Manchester had the Hacienda whereas Liverpool had Eric's.

However footballing rivalries seem to be at the forefront of competition between the two cities with Liverpool and Manchester United fans in a bitter rivalry over who is the greater side.

Unfortunately the rivalry between the two sides has extended beyond football as personal tragedies suffered by both cities are being used as insults against their rivals.

The war of words has escalated this week with the discovery of a video on YouTube showing images of the Hillsborough disaster followed by a red devil urinating on the Hillsborough memorial at Anfield the words '96 wasn't enough' at the end.

As a Liverpool fan I found this video extremely disgusting and was almost physically sick after watching it.  This has also been the view of non-Liverpool supporters I have spoken to about it also.

I have no doubt that a minority group of Liverpool fans will retalliate with something in reference to the 1958 Munich air disaster in which many Manchester United players lost their lives.

As a Liverpool supporter I have always condemned the singing of Munich by some supporters but after viewing the sickening video on YouTube, I've decided that both sides are as bad as each other and that condemning their actions does no good so it is best to let them show themselves up as petty and sick.

Many of these supporters will not remember the moving sight of a United fan openly weeping in The Albert pub following his visit to Anfield on 15th April 1989.  Similarly the Everton supporters who mention Hillsborough at every turn will forget how their friends and family untied with their Anfield counterparts in grief following the tragedy.

Rivalry between two sides is healthy for the game however when it extends beyond footballing allegiances, it destroys the 'beautiful game'.

No matter what your view on the music industry, you cannot deny that The Beatles changed the face of it back in the 1960s.  It's amazing to think that four lads from Liverpool took the world by storm.  In truth the accolade was only worthy of three of the band members.

Whilst George Harrison was very creative in his ways, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were the ultimate song-writing duo and penned virtually every tune in the band's back catalogue.  Ringo Starr however, was the unconventionally untalented one and, if anything he is the luckiest man in the world.

Prior to Ringo's inclusion in the band, the drummer for The Beatles was one Pete Best.  His mother owned the Casbah Club in West Derby where the band played many of their early gig.  Pete was released from the band in 1962 for reasons unknown to everyone but himself and the rest of the band.

There are a lot of Chinese whispers about why he was sacked, varying from the fact that he was seen as the more attractive member which detracted attention from John and Paul to one about him rejecting manager Brian Epstein's advances.   One reason given was that George Martin, who was to become the band's producer, had been dissatisfied with Best's drumming and intended to replace him on their recordings.

Best was effectively the Merseyside equivalent of Elvis Pressley at the time.  Every gig the band played at the female fans would go wild for him, more so than the other band members.

During the band's famous Hamburg days, Best was at the forefront of the success alongside Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Stuart Sutcliffe.  As the band played the Star-Club in Hamburg's red-light Reeperbahn district, word spread about Best and his fellow bandmates.

Best with Sutcliffe and the Big Three in Hamburg during happier times

Prior to the recording of the band's first single "Love Me Do" Starr, then of Rory Storm - another band from the Merseybeat era, had auditioned to drum on the single, he failed the audition and producer George Martin used studio drummer Andy White instead.  The official line from The Beatles Anthology series broadcast on ITV in the mid-nineties was that Pete was either turning up late for gigs or in some cases not turning up at all and that was the reason he had to go.

His replacement was the compelete opposite of Best.  Ringo Starr was a bit rugged looking and appeared in general fairly dim.  His dry humour wasn't as widely appreciated across the Atlantic when the band toured in 1964, as it was on Merseyside.

Starr wasn't exactly complimentary about his predecessor whom he claimed in an interview with Playboy magazine in October 1965 that Best was a drug user.  The world's luckiest man clearly wasn't aware what he was letting himself in for as Best sued the band for libel that month for the comments which was settled out of court.

Ringo's vocals on Yellow Submarine proved why he was merely a drummer.  It was very similar to what you would hear on the karaoke at Ned Kelly's on a Saturday night.  Paul McCartney said on the Anthology that the tune was born out of "that little time before you drift off to sleep".  Credit has to go to Brian Epstein for releasing such a monotonous single.  Lennon, McCartney and Harrison had to accomodate Starr's dulcit tones by lowering their vocal range for that single.

Following the band's split in 1970, Starr went on tour with his own tribute band called Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band.  He also went on to provide the voiceover for the children's television series Thomas the Tank Engine.  I have to say that when I watched it, it sent me off to sleep straight away and to this day it still does.

Since 1988 Pete Best has been touring with his own band, The Pete Best Band.  He also hosts "An Audience With Pete Best" in which he takes fans on a magical mystery tour through the band's early years and answers questions from audience members.  He has, from time to time, played at the Mathew Street Festival weekend to raptuous response.

Ringo Starr may acknowledge the privileged position he finds himself in today but he does not consider how different things could've been.  Pete Best however realises how fortunate he was to be part of the early years of The Beatles and as he says on his website "put the beat in The Beatles".

In recent weeks the price of tickets for games has been in the spotlight.  Several clubs have responded to this with cut-price admission for their home games.  Some grounds in the Premiership resemble those in Italy's Serie A in terms of rows and rows of empty seats.

Blackburn Rovers chairman John Williams has responded to fans' concerns that "watching live football has become too expensive" with the biggest reductions yet in the Premiership's rethink on seat prices

Williams was the first to break ranks earlier this season when he advocated ploughing some of the top-flight's £2.7billion windfall from the new television deal into giving supporters a slice of the new wealth.

The cheapest season ticket at Ewood Park will now cost just £249 for the CIS stand, with nearly 5,500 seats.

A place behind the Blackburn End goal will be £299, a 30 per cent cut on this season's £425. A family of two adults and two children will be able to enjoy 19 Premiership matches at around £10 each per game. Match-day tickets for most home games will be available at £15.

However this isn't a grand gesture to the fans on account of their loyal allegiance to the club.  It's more a case of the clubs can't fill their stadiums and have no option but to reduce their prices.

The most obvious example of what difference a couple of pounds makes was evident at Ewood Park over two games in four days.  Rovers crashed out of the UEFA Cup on aggregate to Bayer Leverkusen but had a capacity crowd in attendance because all season ticket holders were allowed in free whilst under 16s payed only £1 to enter with adults paying £15.  It was a different story at the same stadium the following Sunday when Rovers beat Portsmouth 3-0.  The stadium was only half full.  The reason for this? Ticket prices were back to their normal standard.

Empty seats at the Riverside Stadium as just over 14,000 turned out for a Carling Cup Tie.
A scene that is becoming familiar at several Premiership grounds.

The likes of Everton and Bolton Wanderers have followed in Blackburn's footsteps to prevent dwindling attendances but it doesn't seem to be catching on as much as they'd hoped.  Everton's third round FA Cup tie with Blackburn was nowhere near capacity because they had not reduced ticket prices for the game.  This is evidence if it were needed that dwindling attendances are not down to the club's fortunes on the pitch.

I've been going regularly to Liverpool games since 1995 and when the time came to pay for match tickets and season ticket renewals, I've found that thirty odd pound isn't that much of a burden for the 90 minutes of enjoyment, and at times anguish I endure.  Then again, I've seen a lot of success in my time as a Liverpool supporter and I'm aware how fortunate I am to be able to watch my team week in, week out so I don't question it.  What I do question however is why a ticket for the away end at Stamford Bridge costs £48, in the grand scheme of things I believe that's what one would call a rip-off.

My point being that the typical matchday for most fans is an expensive hobby.  You've got travel costs to take into consideration as well as money aside for a programme and, if you're of the legal age, a few pints before or after the game - sometimes both.  The clubs are paying over-rated players ridiculous wages which are in part, funded by revenue from the supporters.  If it weren't for the supporters, the club wouldn't be in existence and therefore they should reward the supporters for their loyalty and not just because they're losing gate revenue.

Music downloading has been a gray area in recent times but as someone who's downloaded music illegally, I can understand why people do it.

My record collection is full of CD singles and albums which I've bought.  I can proudly say that I have never bought one album just to listen to one track.  Why waste all that money to listen to just one track?  Even a free-spending individual like Roman Abramovich would tell you that that doesn't make any financial sense.

The fact of the matter is that if you want to listen to one song you've got one of three options - listen to it via the video on YouTube, pay the pound odd the music bosses are charging or download it from one of the file-sharing sites.

Illegal downloading isn't as severe as record companies make it out to be

The truth of the matter is that if you do the latter you're breaking the law and despite the 'piracy is a crime' adverts at the start of every new DVD I buy, I really don't see how music piracy is such a crime.

I would say that half the internet users in the world who download music are complying with the anti-piracy law and the other half are breaking it.  I would class myself in the latter.  When I think about that it doesn't make me feel ashamed or like a criminal and I'll tell you why.

The musicians who produce the songs are rich from the recording deals the record companies have offered them so they're not affected and neither are the record bosses as the diehard fans will always buy the latest single even if they've got it on the album so they're not losing out.  The whole thing smacks of greed on the part of the music bosses.

Next time you listen to your ipod, mp3 player or even computer, if you have time, count how many tracks you actually have in your music library.  When you've worked that out, note it down and then count how many you've obtained illegally.  After you've written that number down look at both of the numbers - the first one is how much in pounds the music bosses would make you pay for your entire mp3 collection and the second is how much you'd have to pay if you downloaded songs legally.

If the music bosses had their way there'd be no point in buying a 5,000 song holding ipod because it'd cost you a couple of thousand to fill up the database and that's why I'm all for file-sharing.

I think the best summing up of has-been entertainer and radio presenter Pete Price was on a banner I saw on television in the Ataturk stadium on that glorious night in May 2005 when Liverpool won the European Cup for the fifth time.  It was a plain white banner with 'Pete Price is a c*nt' printed in large red capitals.

As a person who spent most Sunday nights of my school years listening to 'Pricey' losing his rag with this caller or that, I feel that I can now say the following without any doubts over Mr Price.

I recently read in the Liverpool Echo of a reader's disgust at the fact that Pete Price had set up a campaign to ban the 'pyjama women' he's ever so fond of.  Whether this was done tongue in cheek or in all seriousness, it was definitely a publicity stunt.

Mr Price has done a fair few publicity stunts in the past but before I go into details about them I might as well point out his positive attributes.  He has and continues to give his full backing to both the Justice 4 James campaign – set up to bring the killers of Bootle toddler James Bulger to justice, and Claire House children's hospice on the Wirral.  They are two causes close to his heart and he does everything he can to support the campaign whether it be through his radio show or his column in the Echo and that is a widely-acknowledged fact by myself and others.

He also saved the life of a thirteen-year-old boy who was about to commit suicide which proved that he's a decent, caring human being.

To be honest, at times I've even felt sorry for the man.  I mean this is an example of a typical conversation he has to deal with on a regular basis on his Radio City phone-in show on Sunday nights.

Pete: …0967.  Let's go to John, hello John

(silence with delayed radio playing in the background)

Pete: John could you switch your radio off so we can have a conversation

Caller: (turns radio down) ello Pete? (long pause) Pete are yer der?

Pete: (sounding frustrated) Yes

Caller: "oh right yeah first I'd to give a shout-out to me mate...

Pete: we don't do requests, if you've come on to say something then say it"

Caller: erm….well it's like this Pete, I was down the dole office the other day like an' I seen this asylum seeker…

Pete: How did you know he was an asylum seeker?

Caller: "erm well he looked like an asylum seeker

Pete: What does an asylum seeker look like?

Caller: yer wha?

Pete: (through gritted teeth) What does an asylum seeker look like?

Caller: y'know like an asylum seeker (brief pause) anyway so he was in the queue at the dole office...

Pete: You still haven't answered my question, what does an asylum seeker look like?

Caller: like an asylum seeker, a dirty, thievin'…

Pete: (half-shouting) look ladies and gentlemen this is another racist pig

Caller: don't call me racist yer dirty gay...

Pete: and he's got a filthy mouth to match.  (in full verbal tirade) YOU'RE SCUM JOHN, YOU'RE DIRTY RACIST HOMOPHOPIC SCUM. YOU'RE A PEASANT! A FRIGGIN' PEASANT! YOU'RE A MORON, A MOOOOORON! JAY I'M NOT DOING THIS SH*T ANY MORE.

(door slams loudly and music is played.  Pete returns ten minutes later in a calmer mood)

Now I can just about stomach that because they're moments of pure comedy genius.  I can also manage to listen to him interview one of his showbiz friends every yearly quarter but the latter is an example of something Price is unable to do – remain grounded.

For all the good he has done, Pete Price undoes it all with irrelevant publicity stunts.

He's constantly bragging about going to this celebrity party and meeting this guest or that guest.  He then devotes an hour of his show so he can have an on-air chinwag with his showbiz pals, dismissing any newsworthy issues callers have called up to discuss.

The stereotypical conversation I described before is pretty much the majority of what Price has to deal with but that doesn't excuse having Ruth McCartney on at 1am once a month to talk about having lunch with Rosanne Barr for the third time in a week.  That time eats up the open forum as does his review of the soaps.  I agree that people want to be updated on the soaps if they've missed out and do enjoy a bit of Hollywood gossip but why have it eat into the open forum time?

However that's not my main objection to Mr Price, it's this and this alone – he's always more than willing to abandon news-related issues callers want to discuss in exchange for anything that has the potential to enhance his career as a has-been entertainer.

In January when Liverpool played Arsenal in the FA Cup, the Kop staged a protest against Kelvin Mackenzie, former editor of heavily-reviled newspaper The Sun.  The protest made world news but despite this Price stopped callers discussing it as it would "upset the victims families". So the comments by Mackenzie only weeks earlier that he wasn't sorry for printing the slanderous article about the Hillsborough disaster weren't upsetting to them?

A week later the disgraced Mackenzie appeared on BBC Question Time and admitted that mistakes had been made but he still wouldn't apologise.  That Sunday, Mr Price invited callers to come on the show and discuss the recent goings on.  Anything to make himself look good.

Young soldiers are being brought back in coffins from Iraq, serving their queen and country and all Pete Price is bothered about is the rare sight of teenage girls standing at the bus stop in their pyjamas.  I regularly travel all over Liverpool and the last time I saw anyone over ten years old out in public wearing pyjamas, was on Edge Lane back in 1999 so that must tell you that the pyjama campaign is a non-starter, a publicity stunt.

How many of you will recall Last Night of The Kop – a concert held on the pitch at Anfield twenty four hours after the last game in front of the old terrace.  The Kop was full to capacity and while the likes of Stan Boardman and Gerry Marsden said their farewells to a terrace they'd known and loved all their lives, Price – then with a ginger perm and outlandish suit – told reporters that he went to both Liverpool and Everton in the olden days but has no interest in it whatsoever now.  Wonder of many of the other guests would've said that? None I expect.

Yes, we know he's best mates with Paul O'Grady but he's been featured on the show four or five times in the past year or so.  I think he must beg O'Grady to do a feature on him because he believes he's greater than Merseyside and its residents who keep him in a job.

He also had a tendency to shout over anyone who pulls him up on a point he has made, as to make the callers appear to be in the wrong.  For every challenging call he receives, a handful of loyal supporters are allowed on to sing his praises.  He also publicises his personal mobile number to "keep in touch with listeners".  Truth of the matter is that despite the fact that he goes on about how much he hates some of the calls he gets on it, truth be told he probably enjoys it because it gives him publicity and makes him feel wanted.

If he is reading this, which I pretty much doubt, I'd ask him if he wants any HP Sauce for that massive chip on his shoulder.  So you lost the New Faces final, you're better off for it, be happy with what you've got and stop trying to be something you never have or ever will be.

It's not often I get invited to a film premiere because in Liverpool the only people who get to see film premieres are the local celebrities however this one was different.  Under The Mud lived up to the billing by others, including Radio Merseyside's Roger Phillips who introduced the film, as "magnificent".  Phillips also said that it had been five years in the making and that was evident throughout the film.

It's set around a day in the life of the Potts - a working class family from Speke and the events that happen to all the members of the family and friend of the family, Magic played superbly by Lenny Wood.

Wood also co-wrote the script which is a testament to his talent as both an actor and a writer but he'll be the first to admit it was a group effort.  Overall there were fourteen writers, and countless other crew members who without the film would not have been possible.

Out of the clan here's the basics - Paul (Dave Hart) is on the weed, Paula (Lauren Steele) has an imaginary friend called Georgina and is obsessed with eccentric local club DJ 'Worm', youngest lad Karl (Adam Bailey) is car crazy like his dad, Olivia (Jasmine Mubery)  is a typical eight year old girl - angelic but a little mischievous and grandmother Dorothy (Kate Fitzgerald) is constantly nagging parents Joe (Scully's Andrew Schofield) and Sally (Lisa Parry of Emmerdale fame) to finally tie the knot.

Wood is seen as one of the family in the film and after suffering personal tragedy at an early age, wishes the Potts were his actual family.

The supporting actors deserve a lot of credit also as Keith Carter, Laura Hoey and Mick Colligan make welcome additions as 'psychic' cab driver Chill, Paula's gobby mate Kelly and over-eccentric local club DJ 'Worm' respectively.  James McMartin is also impeccable as recently released criminal 'One Dig'.  I say reformed, you wouldn't think it to look at his character's antics following release only several hours earlier.

The backdrop is little Olivia's first holy communion where Joe attempts to show off his beautiful daughter with home-made electronic wings to go on the back of her communion dress which is at the centre of many of the film's hilarious moments, the other being the tastefully named Bollox the dog - which as you'd expect was at the forefront of some great one-liners (e.g. "stop lickin me Bollox" and "oh shit I've just dropped Bollox").

The christening itself did provide its funny moments but for me the do in the social club and the events that followed were even funnier.  Schofield's performance as the drunken family member up on the karaoke is something that I'm sure we've all witnessed at these type of get-togethers - well I have and I was delighted at the inclusion of music from Liverpool veteran band The Farm who waived publishing rights for this film which was a remarkable gesture from the band.  Pete Wylie of the Mighty Wah devised all the other music on the film's soundtrack.

Generally in film reviews the critics give the basic outline of the plot from start to finish.  I'm not going to do that as seeing is believing and believe me you'll want to see this.  The actors went about their jobs so amazingly well that if I credited each and every one I'd end up giving the whole plot away.

For me Woods and Schofield steal the show as the eventual heroes but I could say that for every member of the cast and crew because the whole film was magnificent.

For me the best thing about the film was the sharp Scouse wit and comedic sketches, only those who have seen it will know what I mean when I say 'airport' - double meaning and double the laughs.

The production team used locations in the Speke/Garston area as well as the Krazyhouse off Hanover Street which gives this an even more of an authentic feel to it.

You'll laugh, cry and cringe all at once - well I did anyway.  It's an all-round future comedy classic and with such talented actors and writers, the future of film-making in the city is set to be an illustrious one to come.

I don't know what the plans are in terms of nationwide showings but if it is made available across the country you should go and see it.

Verdict: I must be a really bad critic because I couldn't fault any part of the film.  There's only one way to describe this film - absolutely fantastic. 10/10