Real Life: It all went mad after Doreen went viral on YouTube

They were talking about it across Europe, Australia, Africa – even one of former American president George Bush's speech writers got in on the act. More of that later.

David Tristram is a fascinating fellow. By day, he earns a living making corporate videos for businesses across the West Midlands. By night, he channels his creative juices into writing stage plays, and more latterly movie scripts, packed with old fashioned belly laughs and Ealing comedy-style farce.

What started off as his part-time hobby is rapidly becoming a mainstream business. David's latest comedy creation is Doreen, a Black Country benefits scrounger who suffers from 'lazy cow syndrome' and pleads with her doctor to 'upgrade her to bi-polar' so she never has to waste time applying for jobs again.

Get the idea? It's not exactly what you'd call politically correct. Sour-faced Doreen has got two layabout daughters called Tangerine and Trojan, and protests: "People say that it's easy living off benefits. All right, it pays the rent, the food bill, the taxis and the Sky TV bill, but I mean some days, I get exhausted just taking the cheque out of the envelope."

She was introduced to the world in a hilariously inflammatory four-minute video 'mockumentary', which became a viral sensation with more than 1.25 million hits when it was posted on YouTube. Spurred on by the success – including, judging by the YouTube comments, a truly cosmopolitan international fan club – David penned and filmed a pilot episode for a fully-fledged sitcom, which he began touting round the TV networks, then created a stage play which has completed a sell-out 14-date tour, which twice had to be extended due to popular demand. Now, he's preparing to start work on Doreen: The Movie.

And to think that the character almost never happened. David, 56, explains: "I was asked to do a serious piece of corporate video for an insurance company, using the actress who plays Doreen, Gill Jordan. With a mischievous glint in the eye, I thought about doing a spoof version as a bit of a laugh. We pretty much made it up on the spot, and did it in virtually one take. I put it up on YouTube and never really thought anything else about it. Then it got half a million hits in next to no time, national news organisations started ringing me up, and it all got a bit silly.

"It was clear that I'd hit a nerve. We were getting feedback from all over the world. It never fails to amaze me when I hear that someone is talking about my work in Botswana! There's even a version out there with Czechoslovakian subtitles. It's certainly proven the power of viral media."

And George Bush's scriptwriter? "Ah, yes, I was told by a reliable source that he'd seen the link, and used the quirks of Black Country humour and dialect as a talking point for a social discussion over in the States. It's amazing, really, but very satisfying, because Black Country humour is so often overlooked and undervalued. It never seems to appear on big television shows in the same way that other dialects such as Geordies are celebrated."

It's something David is desperate to put right. "We're working hard to get Doreen onto terrestrial TV, but it's a long, slow process, populated by lots of people in suits.

"The full-length feature film of Doreen is planned to begin shooting in spring, and the people of the Black Country and Shropshire can be an important part of its success.

"We're currently using the popular technique of crowdfunding to raise the capital needed for this independent movie. How does it work? Well, lots of people get behind a project because they really want to see it happen, and pledge relatively small amounts of money in return for unique rewards.

"For example, a £15 pledge could secure you a DVD of the movie. A £25 pledge could guarantee your ticket to the glamorous gala premiere. Other pledges might mean you get to be an extra, and see your name on the movie credits – there are also opportunities for local corporate sponsorship and brand exposure."

Money raised through the crowdfunding appeal will be channelled into specialist equipment and actors to ensure a top-notch finished product.

He adds: "Sometimes there may be something other than money that you can pledge which is just as valuable to us – a shoot location, for example, or the loan of unusual props."

David Tristram is no stranger to making movies. Born in Quarry Bank, near Dudley, and now living in the east Shropshire village of Highley, he originally worked as a commercial copywriter after graduating from college. His love of comedy blossomed in 1985 when he founded the Flying Ducks Theatre Company which premiered a first adventure for his then-unheralded character called Inspector Drake.

Three decades on, and the bumbling crime-cracker is still a cult hit. The Drake plays – David has written four of them – are performed all over the world as far afield as New Zealand, and there are two Drake feature-length movies in the can. He made the first film to mark the character's 25th anniversary in 2010, and admitted he had become 'bitten by the bug'. A sequel premiered to critical acclaim last year, showcasing a host of familiar local locations such as Blists Hill Museum in the Ironbridge Gorge, the Severn Valley Country Park at Alveley, and Chillington Hall near Wolverhampton.

The hapless Drake has the much-loved traits of the old black and white British comedies, plus a sprinkling of Leslie Nielsen's Airplane or The Naked Gun characters, and a dose of Inspector Clouseau thrown in for good measure.

"Doreen is rather different; not so surreal, and more character-based," David adds.

"But the two Drake films have removed some of the fear factor of making a movie. We have proved that, even with a group of amateurs, they can be made to a certain standard on a limited budget, and if the crowdfunding appeal can help us to raise a budget of between £50,000 and £100,000, we've got a fighting chance of using slightly higher specification equipment, and producing something of mainstream broadcast quality."

Doreen's stage play toured local theatres earlier this month on a sell-out 14-date run which began at the Birchmeadow Centre in Broseley and took in West Bromwich, Dudley, Walsall, Brierley Hill, Lichfield, Solihull, Stafford, Kidderminster and Birmingham, before ending at Bridgnorth and Rugeley. If you didn't manage to make it to any of those shows, Doreen has now been booked to appear in the Garrick Theatre's main 550 seater auditorium in Lichfield on February 16 next year, David is working on other dates which look set to follow.

But if you can't wait that long for a dose of Doreen, check out the pilot TV episode on the Flying Ducks website, www.doreen.tv.

Beware, though, that it does contain occasional bad language, and isn't suitable for the youngest of children. Nor, for that matter, members of the right-on political correctness brigade, who will doubtless frown at the way it satirises benefit scroungers and the exaggerated kid gloves with which many people feel they are treated.

Not that David is too worried about any of that. Putting a light-hearted spin on Voltaire's famous proclamation, he says: "I may not agree with your views, but I would defend to the hilt your right to agree with mine . . . "

Carl Jones