HAMPSHIRE is to play a leading role tonight for a much anticipated film premiere tonight at London's Leicester Square.

A local firm will be making sure all ears will be on the lead actors when they arrive on to the red carpet.

Tuk-tuk retailer Tukshop is set to dispatch two of its mini, three-wheeled rickshaw to deliver Judi Dench and Richard Gere to the world premiere of The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Yet this is not the only part the company has played in the sequel to 2011's surprise box office smash hit, Best Marigold Hotel which comically charts the development of a retirement hotel in Jaipur in India.

The firm, which imports the iconic tuk tuk from South East Asia, has had a key role in the production of the film

It has been providing recordings of the runabout's trade mark high revving engine to recreate the non-stop din of an Indian street.

Tukshop owner Steve Webb said: “It's the magic of film. All the sound was recorded with us in Eastleigh.”

Daily Echo:

But this is not the first time Steve and his vehicles have featured on the big screen.

The tuk tucks also featured in the Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire and another British film, Children of Men, a sci-fi thriller starring Clive Owen, Michael Caine and Julianne Moore.

Based in Eastleigh, Tukshop both rents and sells tuk-tuks, which fetch more than £5,000.

Steve imports the vehicles from Thailand and India where they are a common form of transport, and makes them UK road legal.