November 2025
You couldn’t ask for a bigger compliment than to find yourself being played by a leading actress in a movie directed by Danny Boyle. But that’s the accolade accorded to veteran village resident Joyce Lear. A forthcoming film called Ink stars Claire Foy as  Joyce, who was appointed fashion editor of the newly  launched Rupert Murdoch red top tabloid, The Sun. It was 1970 and Fleet Street was about to be revolutionised by the arrival of this cheeky upstart with its Page 3 girls and sensational headlines. Women’s stories and fashion features were a major part of the new paper’s appeal and Joyce Hopkirk (as she was then) was in the hot seat. Amazingly, Joyce (pictured here in her heyday alongside a photo of Claire Foy (rehearsing the role) wasn’t consulted about being featured in the film. Neither was she when it opened as a play in the West End in 2017. In the play Joyce was heard on several occasions to turn the air blue. What words pass her lips in the movie are yet to be revealed (it is due to be released next year) but Joyce is adamant about one thing. ‘I never swore like that!’ she insists.