A GAME of Thrones star who was educated in Oxfordshire has returned to the big screen – with a documentary about how a famous folk singer lost her voice.

Tim Plester, whose character 'Black Walder' Rivers infamously killed Catelyn Stark in a thrilling series finale, saw his newest venture, The Ballad of Shirley Collins, premiere at the London Film Festival last month.

The former pupil of the Drayton School, now known as North Oxfordshire Academy, in Banbury, co-directed the film about Collins, who is widely considered the 20th century's most important traditional English singer.

The 47-year-old, who was born and raised in Banbury, has received high praises for the film following two packed nights at the festival.

He said: "We’ve had quite an amazing fortnight with the film, since our premiere.

"The Ballad of Shirley Collins is the second feature-length documentary that I’ve made with my co-director Rob Curry, and was a very personal journey through my own Oxfordshire rural roots.

"I first met Shirley Collins after a preview screening of our film the Way of the Morris back in 2010.

"She is a big fan of that film, and so when me and Rob were approached with the notion of making a film about her, it certainly helped that she’d seen what we’d done previously."

Collins revived folk music in the 1960s and 1970s, but in 1980 she developed a disorder of the vocal chords known as dysphonia, which robbed her of her unique singing voice and forced her into early retirement, something, Mr Plester said made her the 'perfect' subject matter.

He said: "We showed the film to Shirley for the first time in her native Sussex several months ago, and were a little apprehensive about how she might respond to it.

"Thankfully she gave it her instant blessing and approval.

"I think what Shirley likes most about the film is that we deliberately haven’t made a straight biopic of her life, and have instead tried to explore and capture the very marrow of what she stands for as a person and a musician.

"We've been particularly pleased with the fact that the film’s attempt to tell a universal story about someone fighting to regain something lost seems to be resonating with a wider audience beyond the obvious folk circles and Shirley’s established fanbase."

The Ballad of Shirley Collins is now on general release and will be screened at Chipping Norton Theatre on November 30, with a question and answer session with Mr Plester.

Book tickets at chippingnortontheatre.com