''It's Nice Up North'' is a 2006

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

made by comedian Graham Fellows as his alter ego John Shuttleworth. It was filmed by photographer Martin Parr and edited by Fellows on his laptop on a very low budget. In the film Shuttleworth travels to the

Shetland Islands Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the Uni ...

to test his theory that the further north in Great Britain you go the nicer people are, Shetland being the most far north part of the UK. He meets various Shetland people in unrehearsed situations. Many assume him to be a real person and not a comic creation, though some scenes are acted, particularly parts with famous local tour guide Elma Johnson. It had a limited theatrical release in some art-house and community cinemas around the UK in 2006, including some screenings in Shetland, with Fellows answering questions after the showing. The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

in the same year. The film has also been shown on

Sky Arts Sky Arts (originally launched as Artsworld) is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, films, documentaries and music (such as opera perfor ...

References

External links

''Ken Worthington's YouTube Channel'' - clips from It's Nice Up North and more on Ken Worthington's YouTube website channel''John Shuttleworth Appreciation Society Website'' - The Official John Shuttleworth Appreciation Society Internet Presence
2006 films British mockumentary films 2006 comedy films British comedy films Mass media in Shetland 2000s English-language films 2000s British films {{2000s-UK-comedy-film-stub