HE'S added special effects to blockbuster movies Tomb Raider, Mission Impossible II, Band of Brothers and Thunderbirds and even altered the scar on Harry Potter's head!

And in an impressive star-struck career he has rubbed shoulders with A-list celebrities including Tom Cruise and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

But after eight years on the move Pete Oldroyd has returned to his home town to launch his own special effects business - Visualeffective. Pete, a former pupil at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn, began his career as an animator for cable channel Live TV before being offered a job with Star Wars' director George Lucas's firm. Now he works from Eanam Wharf Business Centre, where he sends and receives film sequences from London and Hollywood, using high-speed broadband technology.

Examples of his work include removing wires and supports from action sequences, replacing skies and backgrounds, enhancing lighting, or combining real and computer-generated footage.

He set up his firm in Blackburn last autumn and has started a test project with the East Lancs eLaboratory, a business scheme funded by the North West Development Agency. Assistance is also coming from Whalley-based Instant Search business information firm, East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, elancs.net and Business Link.

Pete, who lives in Beardwood, said: "Post-production film work is worth £1.4billion to the UK each year. And £40million from a film budget of £100million can be spent on post-production special effects. This country handles a huge amount of work for big film studios, and the British sector is working at capacity. "

Mike Caulfield, of East Lancashire eBusiness Club, said the project is designed to raise broadband innovations and awareness.