The Ghosts of Wellington X3757

In August 1940, at the height of the Battle of Britain a young man is headhunted to join the RAF. From learning to fly a Tiger Moth, crashing a Hurricane, witnessing an horrific train crash, to going on terrifying night raids over Germany, to going AWOL, this true life biopic follows the WW2 RAF career of F/S James E Linehan, interwoven with his niece's (myself) search for the families of the other crew that died with him and the crash site of the plane.

  • Nicola Gaughan
    Writer
    What did you do in the war Grandad?
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay
  • Number of Pages:
    102
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Best Script Awards
    New York
    July 10, 2024
    Best Feature Screenplay by a London Screenwriter
Writer Biography - Nicola Gaughan

Nicola is an experienced graphic designer (including work for
Disney) and LRPS qualified photographer. Over the last few years
she developed an interest in filmmaking and has acted as a stills
photographer, focus puller, production/lighting assistant, runner/driver and twice has had a small cameo acting roles for several small independent films (and occasionally as a Supporting Artist (extra) in professional TV/film productions). She completed the Film Foundation Fortnight at London Film Academy where she was DOP and co-writer/co-editor on Slasher, a one minute short.
She was stills photographer in Curtains, a short by director Nathan Evans, which screened at the BFI Flare Festival and Rough and Ready, a comedy which starred page 3 girl Peta Todd. She was also a photographer at the Raindance Film Festival, photographing Joanna Lumley, Johnny McDaid and other celebrities.
Her first short that she wrote, produced in partnership with Brendan Lonergan (creature effects artist in the film industry), was What did you do in the war Grandad?, which won Best Documentary in the We Make Films Not Excuses film festival in 2020. She has also written a feature film about her uncle’s WW2 RAF career (The Ghosts of Wellington x3757) which has just won Best Feature Screenplay by a London Screenwriter in the new York Script Awards and has a second feature script in synopsis stage (initial title: Betrayal in Alexandria - a WW1 story inspired by a real life family story), and 2 more feature scripts in early ideas stage.

She is currently enrolled on the MA in Film Practice at Bournemouth Online University and undertook a Ways into Screenwriting course at City Lit in September 2023, where she wrote the short script Ashes to Ashes, based on happenings around the death of her mother, which is a Finalist in the Barcelona Indie Awards 2024 and has just won Official Selection in the New York Script Awards. Her other short script The Eyes Have It was an Official Selection in the London Lift Off Festival in December 2023 and has also just won Official Selection in the New York Script Awards.

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Writer Statement

I spent 7 years researching what happened to my Uncle Jim who was killed during WW2. I discovered that he had flown with 5 other men who'd all flown and died with him. They have no known grave, but are remembered on the memorials at Runnymede and the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln.
The more I learned about what the young men from Bomber Command had done, the more I was in awe of them. I felt their story should be told and I wanted to also ensure that they're never forgotten. I wrote the short What did you do in the war Grandad? and then decided to write a feature combining my uncle's career with my search for them and the plane.
Given that the plane hasn't been found yet, I had to create a satisfying ending.