THE trailer of a film about the tragic tale of a Workington girl who was murdered 137 years ago has been released.

Steve Baldwin has spent much of the past seven years trying to unravel the sad tale of Lucy Sands, 16, who was last seen in December 1881.

He has written The Ballad of Lucy Sands and is working with actors and a film crew to share the story of the unsolved crime with a wider audience.

A short preview of the film has been released. Director Steve is delighted by the response.

"The response to the trailer has been nothing short of phenomenal, we've only released this via our Facebook page to date and it has been viewed over 20,000 times in less than a week. That number is steadily rising," said Steve.

Parts of the full length film, which is still being made, will be shown at Workington's Helena Thompson Museum in June.

"That short will be made up from parts of the film that we have shot to date," said Steve.

"It’s not going to give too much away but it will make sense as part of the story."

Much of the filming has been done in Cornwall and Devon. The crew plan to film in Workington in August.

"We aim to move filming up to Cumbria, shooting in and around Workington, using the Helena Thompson interior and exterior as part of the backdrop, along with other streets and places of interest like the Theatre Royal and possibly the exterior of some of the town's ancient and historic drinking dens that were around in the period we are filming in," said Steve.

"We will be in need of a number of actors and supporting actors from the area for those proposed shoots which we are hoping to schedule for around early to mid August.

"The shoot will be three to four days long, so we'll be in the vicinity with the main cast at that time. It's going to be an exciting, peculiar and possibly quite emotional experience for the actors who are going to find themselves walking around the exact same places where the ancient footprints still resound of the people they are portraying in the film."

The plan is to complete filming early next year and release the film late 2020.

"I can't wait to take the short to the museum and listen to other people's stories of Lucy that have been passed down by generations of their families," said Steve.

"It's going to be quite an emotional day for all of us I think."

He will be accompanied by various cast and crew.