"THERE was only one thing wrong with that movie," said a mortally offended ex-miner's wife after a special screening of Billy Elliot in the very North-East town where it was set - "and that was the decoration. No one I know would ever have been seen dead with that wallpaper."

It was, to put it mildly, a fairly unique critique to put to the director of the emotional story of an 11-year-old boy who wants to be a ballet dancer in the tough world of a County Durham mining town during the miners' strike of 1984.

But it was one that director Stephen Daldry took seriously. After all, he was anxious enough about the reaction to the film of the people of Easington and Dawdon to screen a special showing at Easington Comprehensive School.

He said: "I thought the decoration was great. I certainly wouldn't mind it my home, anyway. But, to be a bit more serious, the last thing I would want is to offend the people here. They were so warm, and it has been great to have some of the ex-miners who were in the film as extras here. It's just a shame they don't have a proper cinema of their own here."

One of those ex-Easington miners Mr Daldry came to admire was Alan Brewster - husband of Diane, who commented about the wallpaper.

For him it was not the story of Billy Elliot - played by 14-year-old Jamie Bell, of Billingham - that really interested him, but the portrayal of the strike, which had scarred the lives of hundreds in the tight-knit, working class community - not least his own.

"It was a rough time," he said. "But the film was about right. It showed something of what we had to go through. It got across that we had to stick up for ourselves, but also the fact that it was a hard, horrible time."

One man who was, in his own words, on the "other side of the shield" during the strike was policeman Malcolm Pugh.

He was reluctant to talk about the portrayal of police-miners' relations in the film, but echoed the opinions of seemingly everyone at the showing when called it "first class" as a piece of entertainment. He said: "For us, it was spotting the places you knew, but I think it was an excellent film. And, more importantly, it's good for this place of Easington."

Perhaps the final judgement should go to Emma Jepson, a girl the same age as the fictional Billy Elliot character not even born during the strike. "It helps us know what is was like then," she said. "But I'm glad I wasn't around in real life."