He has played the ruthless Blackbeard in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides but now former Lovejoy star Ian McShane has taken on another nautical challenge – a documentary about Sheppey’s bomb ship the SS Richard Montgomery.

The 73-year-old, who also voiced the part of Tai Lung in Kung Fu Panda, has been in a studio in London working on the 54-minute programme with Sittingbourne director Ken Rowles.

Mr Rowles, who runs the Swale Film Festival, has been filming The Wreck for more than four years and has even shot footage aboard the US Liberty ship’s sister vessel, which is moored in San Francisco, USA.

The Montgomery ran aground off Sheerness in 1944 with thousands of tonnes of explosives on board.

Many believe it is still a disaster waiting to happen.

Mr Rowles said: “We are now just weeks away from completing the programme. On Thursday, Ian McShane did the voice-over in London. We have one more day of interviews to film around Westminster.

“After four years, it feels good to have this very important production finally on the verge of completion.”

McShane is starring in Julian Fellowes’ Sunday night adaptation of Anthony Trollope’s Doctor Thorne and is due to play a priest in the TV series Game of Thrones.

He has previously won a Golden Globe for best actor in a television drama series and the Television Critics Association Award for individual achievement in drama for his role as Al Swearengen in the cult American TV series Deadwood.

He also pops up in Sacha Baron Cohen’s new film Grimsby.