Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority ranger Ian Broadwith, left, with Alan Gibson. Photo: Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority

An actor has been shadowing a national park ranger to pick up tips about an upcoming role.

Yorkshire Dales access ranger Ian Broadwith went out and about with Alan Gibson as he prepared for his leading part in Lad, a film about the late Al Boughen who worked for the national park authority in the 1980s.

Mr Gibson, 55, was picked for the part by director Dan Hartley who said that, as a teenager, Mr Boughen was his mentor and inspiration for several years.

Mr Hartley, who used to live in the Yorkshire Dales village of Austwick, said: “My film is about the relationship a teenage lad forms with a national park ranger when his father dies.

“It’s a coming of age story – heartfelt and sincere – that celebrates the Yorkshire landscape and its characters.

“The film is aiming for authenticity on every level so we need him to have an innate knowledge of what the rangers do so we can strive to make it as accurate a portrayal as we can.

“The film goes to the heart of all the good things that the national park represents and I hope it will be the sort of film that will make North Yorkshire proud and which will also encourage people to visit.”

The film is the first piece of acting Mr Gibson, who lives in Rathmell, has ever done – apart from a local pantomime about 20 years ago.

“It’s quite a challenge,” he said. “Because Rathmell is just outside the national park, I haven’t had a great deal of contact with it at all.

“I knew a little about what the national park authority does so this was quite an eye opener for me

“It was an opportunity to learn a bit more about what the rangers and the authority do and it will give me a bit more detail about what I am supposed to be doing and perhaps help me to round off Al’s character.”

Mr Broadwith added: “There’s only so much you can do in a day but he’s quite a practical guy so he got a good insight into what we do.

“We looked at different kinds of stiles and I taught him how to build a ladder stile and we went out on site as well – the sort of things he is probably going to do in the film.”