'Smallest cinema' premieres in London

The mobile cinema will be on show at Victoria Station

A cinema fanatic who grew tired of people talking through films has created what he claims is the smallest big screen in the world.

Angus MacFarlan's 17-foot mobile cinema for two is having its own premiere on the concourse of Victoria Station in central London on Friday.

The Hugh Grant film About A Boy will be playing at 'The World's Smallest Cinema' on Friday.

But film fans will in future be able to take their pick from Mr MacFarlan's own collection ranging from 1930s classics to today's blockbusters through specially-designed goggles.

People will be stripped of their phones before they sit in the seats

Angus MacFarlan

The inventor says the tiny cinema will offer ushers, ice cream, popcorn and advertisements, but without the irritations of the larger screens.

He told BBC London: "It has all the attributes of the cinematic experience without the bad points.

"I am a great cinema-goer, but the experience is constantly spoiled by the activities of other people, talking too loudly and laughing at the wrong moments."

And one modern interruption in particular will not be allowed at the tiny cinema.

Horror films

"People will be stripped of their phones before they sit in the seats," he said.

He added that while comedies would never be the same without a full house to generate laughs, romances and horror films would benefit from the more intimate surroundings.

The world's smallest cinema, it is claimed, is the Terrace Theatre in Australia.

But The Screen Room, which opened in Nottingham in September, claims to be slightly smaller with just 21 seats.