Councillor to cardinal to bishop...

Michael Allan has gone from councillor to cardinal to bishop in his second role as an extra for Hollywood blockbusters.

Councillor Allan, who sits on East Cambridgeshire District council as representative for the Fordham villages, was snapped up by production staff after being persuaded by friends to audition for the Other Boleyn Girl.

"They held the auditions last year at the Maltings and some of my friends said they were going. I didn't want to go, they persuaded me, then I got accepted and they got rejected. I felt so guilty."

Last year Coun Allan was also selected to play a cardinal in The Golden Age, which will be released this autumn. "I've been joking that I've been demoted" he said. "a poor man's bishop of Ely. My costume, although I had two fittings for it, wasn't as sumptuous as the cardinal's outfit, but still there was no expense spared. Getting a tailored bishop's outfit is not something that happens every day but I don't get to keep it. I won't be wearing it to fancy dress parties, I'd prefer to have something more flamboyant."

Coun Allan has signed a confidentiality contract so was unable to reveal anything about the plot of the Other Boleyn Girl. "I've been sworn to secrecy, but it's not as if I was able to wander round seeing everything that was going on. The organisation was absolutely fantastic, everyone had their place. They had separated parts of the cathedral into different sets, and they are filming all the time, so if I suddenly started walking around I would have messed up their shots. I certainly couldn't just go up and chat to Natalie Portman or Scarlett Johansson."

Filming for the Other Boleyn Girl ended on Thursday. Councillor Allan can now sit back and wait to see himself on the silver screen as the Golden Age is released in October, then again in February.