EXTRAS put their finest German accents to the test as filming got under way for a 'epic' war-time drama.

Didcot Railway Centre was transformed into 1940s Germany last week for the filming of a new biopic about the exploits of a prisoner of war.

Mockingbird Film Co is making the short film, titled Francois, about Jean Georges François, a French soldier who escaped from behind enemy lines by clinging on to the bottom of a train for three days.

Having run away from a camp near Munich during an RAF raid, François, played in the film by his real-life grandson Daniel François-Smith, hid under the carriage which was full of German soldiers until Strasbourg.

He was then picked up by the French resistance and escaped over the Pyrenees to Andorra before making his way to England, via Portugal.

Here he helped train Free French officer cadets, including Phillipe de Gaulle, the son of Charles.

Mockingbird's film had attracted a lot of attention before filming because of its unusual request for extras who could do a pass-able German accent but didn't actually need to speak the language.

The company is aiming to use the short film to enter film festivals and raise finance for a full-scale production.