THE film-maker who produced last Friday’s television documentary about missing Malton woman Claudia Lawrence has spoken about the complexity of making the programme.

Billy Dosanjh spent three months with Claudia’s father, Peter, as well as interviewing her sister, Ali Sims, and best friends, Suzy Cooper and Jen King.

Mr Dosanjh said: “The whole project began at Suddaby’s pub in Malton when I met Peter and his friend Martin Dales and started chatting with locals about how the town had coped since Claudia’s disappearance. From there I was able to build up a portfolio of knowledge enabling me to delve deeper.”

Filming for the Channel Four documentary, Missing – The Claudia Lawrence Story, took place in Malton and Slingsby, where Mr Lawrence, 64, lives as well as York, where Claudia lived and worked.

Mr Dosanjh said it had been a difficult film to make.

“It was more complex than any other film I’ve made as little is known about Claudia. The family have had to deal with a lot of media intrusion and, as a result, are restrained when they talk about her.”

Mr Dosanjh added: “When I was interviewing Claudia’s friend Jen, she began to cry completely unexpectedly and, as a film-maker, it is my job to film this, but there were times when I felt like putting the camera down and comforting her. I was also given a unique insight into Peter’s world, and he opened up to me as much as he could.”

Mr Dosanjh added that he hoped the publicity surrounding the programme, which was watched by almost one million viewers, would help the campaign to find Claudia.

Today (Wednesday) marks the 17-month anniversary since Claudia disappeared while on her way to work as a chef at York University.

Detectives investigating the suspected murder of Claudia, who was 35 when she went missing, said 22 phone calls had been received from members of the public in response to the television programme.

A spokeswoman for North Yorkshire Police said: “No major breakthrough has been reported in any of the calls. However, detectives will be reviewing and cross-referencing the information received over the weekend against existing information and will pursue any new information which comes to light.

“Someone somewhere knows exactly what has happened to Claudia. We urge them to do the right thing and come forward now. Please end Claudia’s family’s anguish and tell us what you know.”

Anyone with information should phone the dedicated number on 01609 768181 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.