Chris's series a winner in the States

Former Blackpool and The Fylde College student Chris Hembury hopes his latest comedy show, Heltel, will be a hit after being picked up by Amazon’s online streaming service in both the US and now the UK.

The web series, which he has produced, directed and starred in, premiered in Los Angeles and won awards at this year’s LA Web Festival.

And ahead of its UK launch, Chris, from St Annes, treated an audience in his home town to a red carpet screening of Heltel, which follows the arrival of a new manager at the ‘hotel from hell’.

He told The Gazette: “After the film’s festival run it’s now been distributed on Amazon Prime both in the US and now in the UK.

“Before it’s UK launch we had a big premiere in the Aztex Venue in St Annes with a red carpet, over 100 guests and was a truly amazing evening for me as the audience was so amazing and the showing so well received.”

Chris, who achieved a national diploma in performing arts and a higher national diploma in media production from Blackpool and The Fylde College before gaining a masters in film, said his work had been just as well received in the States.

Following Heltel’s premiere at the LA Web Festival, it was screened at the Jimmy Stewart Theater in Sony Studios Hollywood, which Chris described as a ‘great experience’.

His previous web comedy series ‘Love Hurts’ won three awards at the LA Web Festival in 2015.

All six episodes of Heltel are available to stream online via Amazon Prime.