THE basement of the old Warrington Market has been recreated in virtual reality for a 360 degree music video created to highlight mental health problems.

Dozens of residents, including Warrington Borough Council chief executive and Warrington Wolves chairman Steven Broomhead, are seen dancing in the basement of the former market hall in the Oven Ready Band’s video for track Dancing in the Shadows.

Band members were inspired to raise awareness of mental health issues through the interactive 360 degree video after meeting rapper Kyle Hignett, who himself had battled serious problems.

Steve Pickering formed the group after retiring as Warrington Market manager at the beginning of the year.

The 55-year-old said: “I retired from the market at Christmas last year, and when you retire you look around for things to do.

“I’ve been in bands for years so I got together with some olds friends to record some tracks, and while we were in the studio we met a really talented rapper whose mum had to chain him to a radiator to stop him killing himself.

“Ever since then he’s turned his life around and he’s a very prolific artist so we invited him to work on our track, and we decided to release it to raise awareness of mental health problems.

“We want to engage with people like Kyle and to get them to talk about their issues.

The video is described as a ‘humorous retro horror flick’ and has been compared to the Exorcist if it had been directed by Walt Disney.

Meanwhile, Professor Broomhead has been touted as ‘an ideal candidate for Strictly Come Dancing’ by Steve following his appearance in the video.

Steve, from Padgate, added: “I invited people who I’ve worked with over the years to take part in the video and there are more than 50 people from a cross section of the community – from market traders to Laurel and Hardy lookalikes.

“Every person we’ve filmed has been affected my mental health problems in some way – whether they’ve had problems themselves or a family member or friend has.

“The song is called Dancing in the Shadows, and the message is if you’re dancing in the shadows with mental illness, step into the light and start talking.

“We want people to get over that stigma and encourage them to talk to the professionals.”

“The reality is that mental health is a very scary experience and if we can help to encourage anyone who might be suffering to step into the light and start talking to someone, then that would be fantastic.”

The video will be released on Friday, October 27 – see a sneak preview below.