Movie crews have converged on the Skipton area to prepare for a film about 11 Yorkshire Dales woman who stripped naked for a charity calendar in aid of leukaemia research.

They are looking for suitable locations and securing accommodation for the cast, which includes award-winning actors Helen Mirren and Julie Walters.

They and other actors are expected to arrive in Kettlewell on June 24 to start work on the movie about the WI pin-ups.

Julie Walters, whose daughter has suffered from leukaemia, received a BAFTA award this month for her role in the TV drama My Beautiful Son.

The rest of the cast has still to be selected, but movie makers, London-based Harbour Pictures, hope to have made the decision by the end of this week.

About 100 crew will spend ten weeks in the Skipton area filming the Dales scenes for the picture, which will tell the moving and humorous story of how the 11 women raised about £500,000.

Royalties from the film will go to Leukaemia Research.

They were inspired to pose naked for the calendar following the death from the disease of their friend, John Baker, 54, a former Yorkshire Dales National Park officer.

His wife Angela, 56, was among the group which appeared on the calendar.

Mrs Baker, whose character is being played by Julie Walters, is one of six women who backed Harbour Pictures, to make the movie.

It sparked a rift and led to the breakaway of five other women from the group, who supported a bid by comedy writer and actress, Victoria Wood. Miss Wood has a home close to Skipton.

Co-producer, Susanne Mackie, of Harbour Pictures, has had meetings with the six remaining Calendar girls in Cracoe, near Skipton.

"We went through the script with them. We have tried to keep the women involved throughout the whole process and consulted them about changes as we have gone along.

"Most of the filming will take place in the Kettlewell area, although interior scenes will be at Shepperton studios in London. It's impossible to film inside a small cottage.

"Other scenes will be shot in London and in Los Angeles, where some of the women visited to promote the American version of the Calendar.

"The film is about achieving something joyful out of a tragic event - about how ordinary life can suddenly become extraordinary from a seemingly small endeavour."

Mrs Baker, of Cracoe, near Skipton, said: "The film making is a wonderful thing. We never in a million years thought the calendar would make so much money and the film is the icing on the cake."

Tricia Stewart, 53, (Miss October) of Cracoe, whose character is being played by Helen Mirren, said: "People must not forget that it is a film, not a documentary and the characters are based on us - they are not us.

"Things will obviously change but the crux of the film remains true to the story. We are very happy."

The women - whose ages range between 49 and 68 - are all still members of Rylstone & District Women's Institute, although discussion about the movie was avoided between the two opposing groups.