GROWING up on the edge of the cliffs at Blackgang, with easy access to the beaches and coves at the Back of the Wight, Keith English had an idyllic childhood.

His imagination could run free, and he spent many hours making little films at Rocken End on a cine-camera.

Throughout his time at Chale Primary School then Ventnor Middle, he developed a love for filming and performing. He wrote and directed countless short movies utilising his friends and family as actors and crew.

It's no surprise to find that Keith carried on in this vein, turning his passion into a highly successful career as a director of commercials, trailers and feature films.

There have been many highlights, but his latest film is perhaps his most mainstream yet — The More You Ignore Me — written by comedienne Jo Brand and starring Sheridan Smith.

It was quite a coup to sign up Sheridan, who is arguably the most in-demand British actress of her generation, but Keith said she signed on the dotted line almost soon as she read the funny yet emotive script.

Keith, a former Carisbrooke High School pupil, recently returned to the Island to catch up with his former classmates at a reunion.

"I had been avoiding it as I'm not one for looking back but it was actually really nice to catch up with everyone and hear about their careers."

The feeling was surely mutual, when the alumni found out what Keith had been up to over the past few decades.

Keith had enjoyed drama at Carisbrooke High and spent three years with the National Youth Theatre, performing in various Shakespeare plays.

"I was not terribly good at it," he said.

"I wanted to be in control, I was more into things like the lights. I applied for Bournemouth Film School and went there from 1982 to 1985, falling in love with the industry even more."

His flair for edgy subject matter and near-the-knuckle humour won him a distinction and Best Film of The Year for The Undertakers — a dark musical comedy where the hero ends up projectile

vomiting over a member of a biker gang.

On graduating, he toured his short film at festivals around the globe, then got a job with Scores Ltd cutting feature film trailers.

His clients included all the major studios and directors such as Stanley Kubrick, Tim Burton, Lindsey Anderson and Hugh Hudson. At one point he was the voice of Freddy Krueger in the UK trailers of Nightmare on Elm Street.

After three years, Keith became creative director and hooked up professionally with future cutting-edge director Jonathan Glazer, who joined the team.

Keith left Scores in 1990 to become a freelance writer/director. His work for General Motors, TSB, BBC and Comic Relief was to garner him a number of industry awards and accolades, and alongside this he started his commercials career, utilising his vivid imagination to come up with unusual and memorable ads, such as the first 18-rated commercial ever shown in cinemas.

His specialism was edgy subject matter. Plans to crack Hollywood never came to fruition, but he was in demand making TV commercials.

"I have made more then 400. I keep saying its 400 but I think it's a lot more."

In 2000 Keith and his wife Claire Cottrell set up their own company, Velvet Pictures Ltd, to pursue film production and organise other production work.

In 2004 Keith had success with Bus Life, a TV series on UK Disney Channel. Keith was director and producer, and the series was nominated for best drama in the children’s BAFTA awards, RTS awards, Prix Jeunesse and won the Grand Prix in New York.

In 2008 Keith was chosen to direct the international Heineken promotion for the James Bond release A Quantum of Solace, working with actress Olga Kurylenko.

Despite some disappointments along the way with funding problems and legal issues, Keith carried on doing what he loves, and he was offered the feature film The More You Ignore Me out of the blue.

He clicked straightaway with Jo Brand, and secured the stars Sheridan Smith, Mark Addy and Sally Phillips.

It is a coming of age story set against the backdrop of schizophrenia, making it a gruelling, but ultimately uplifting tale of what living with mental illness can be like.

He said: "We had to put Sheridan high on our list of who we wanted but she was in Funny Girl on a long contract. When we heard she had finished, we sent her the script and she loved it.

"She is a lovely and warm-hearted person, full of energy and extremely careful about what she does and how she does it.

"She enjoys being with the cast and crew and making it a really collaborative set — I would just guide it."

Keith is still attracted to projects with curveballs.

Currently he is working on a film about a young girl who wakes up one morning growing feathers, and another about a man whose life turns upside down when his eyeball falls out.

The More You Ignore Me is available on DVD and can be downloaded from Amazon.