IT'S a hot summer's day and I'm driving through the East End of London.

I'm looking for a warehouse, down a side-street, where, I'm told, they're filming a movie about the largest heist ever to have taken place in Britain.

Eventually I find the street, all pretty anonymous looking with blocks of flats and a school nearby.

In fact if you were going to hide-out after the largest robbery in history, you could do a lot worse than pick this spot, because there is literally no one about.

After I've parked up, I take a short walk up the road where a couple of people are standing about smoking cigarettes.

"Hello, I'm looking for a film set?" I tell them.

They look at me suspiciously.

"I'm a friend of Ronnie's," I explain.

Ronnie is Ronnie Thompson, a Colchester boy done 'real' good. He started off life as a prison officer, blew the whistle on his 'nightmare' job in the smash hit book Screwed, and is now making his mark on the UK movie scene.

Starting off with the film version of his bestselling book, which starred Noel Clarke and James D'Arcy, Ronnie's time spent on the set led to a co-directing role in Tower Block, starring multi-award winning actress Sheridan Smith.

Now with a taste and a real talent for making films, Ronnie did a deal with one of the world's largest film producers, Lionsgate UK, in which if he agreed to direct the third film in the Green Street franchise, if they would finance his film about training to be in the SAS, I Am Soldier.

Released in 2014 and again starring Noel Clarke, as well as Tom Hughes, perhaps now best known as Prince Albert in ITV's Victoria, it premiered thanks to the Colchester Film Festival in the Firstsite auditorium.

At the time Ronnie said: “I was delighted the movie premiered in my home town. I’m extremely proud of where I come from and if I ever can contribute to the vibrant arts and cultural scene that’s already here, then great.”

And he's doing just that with his latest film The Hatton Garden Job, which not only features the music of Clacton band The Lowriders but also has frontman Dave Garlick appearing in a cameo role.

Featuring a super cast led by Downtown Abbey's Matthew Goode, Larry Lamb off Gavin and Stacey, as well as the legendary Phil Daniels, acting royalty Joely Richardson, and another Essex boy done good, True Blood's Stephen Moyer, the film is about the audacious raid on a Hatton Garden Safe Depository which took place over the Easter Bank Holiday exactly two years ago.

It tells the remarkable true story of four ageing East End criminals, led by 76 year-old Brian Reader, who pull off the largest heist in English legal history. With everyone from the Hungarian mob to Scotland Yard on their tail, these old-school – and just plain old – villains set about achieving the seemingly impossible, drilling into a steel-and-concrete secured safety deposit vault in London’s well-to-do Hatton Garden jewellery quarter.

When I arrive on set, that's exactly what they doing.

Greeted by a smiling Ronnie, he's clearly having a ball directing a great British caper film.

"It's a bit of a dream job," he tells me. "Just look at the people I'm working with, Larry, Phil, it really is a joy. As soon as the raid hit the headlines you knew someone was going to make a film out of it, so when they asked me whether I'd be interested, I jumped at the chance. Who wouldn't."

But although being pretty good fun, it's a lot of hard work, especially with a small budget, in blockbusting terms, of around a million pounds.

"It's the largest film I've ever worked on," he admits, "but it's still peanuts when you think of what the big boys are paying out for films these days."

Inside the warehouse it all looks pretty big budget to me with a replica of the vault, a huge drill and a clutter of stars sitting just yards away from me in their robbers' boiler suits.

I sit quietly and take it all in, slightly giddy with excitement that Mr Parklife himself, Phil Daniels, has just smiled and nodded at me as he waits for his call to go on set.

After our quick chat, Ronnie is called away to put the final touches to the crucial scene where the gang finally drill through, knocking a cabinet on to the floor.

It's crucial because they only have one cabinet and each time it falls it leaves another little dent, which is harder to beat out for the next take.

Fortunately it only takes three and as I look on the monitor you'd never guess for a second it took more than one.

Then the gang converge for the next shot, a gorgeous reveal, as the camera sweeps down from the ceiling and films the gang as they peer through the hole they've just created. A little like Carter and his team looking on when they uncovered Tutankhamun's Tomb, I suspect, their faces say it all.

"And cut!" a very pleased Ronnie calls out.

All too soon my time is up and I have to leave.

Ronnie apologises for not spending more time with me but let's me into the editing suite for one last treat, a sneaky peak at some of the film he had already shot, including a sultry Joely Richardson having a meet-up with one of the gang in an East End boozer and a brilliant scene filmed at West Ham's old football ground.

"Yeah, that was a bit of luck," Ronnie smiles, "looks good doesn't it."

Of course he's modestly just talking about the ground itself but going on the footage I was allowed to see, it could easily apply to his film as a whole.

Released by Signature entertainment, The Hatton Garden Job is out in selected cinemas on Friday.