A MOTOR neurone disease sufferer from South Essex helped award-winning actor Eddie Redmayne find inspiration for hit film the Theory of Everything.

When the star turned up at the National Hospital for Neurology, in central London, to find out more about living with the disease to help with his portrayal of scientist Stephen Hawking, Jackie Higginson mistook him for a student.

It was not until she saw a trailer for the film a year later that Mrs Higginson, 51, from South Ockendon, realised she had spent time with such a big-name actor.

She said: “I didn’t even know who he was, but he was a very nice young man. He was just a normal person and not up himself at all.

“The nurses told me an actor was coming in as part of his research into a film about Stephen Hawking, but I didn’t realise it was going to be an international blockbuster. I thought he was doing a Masters degree or something.

“We talked about howmy condition started and I showed him my tremors.”

Mrs Higginson, a regular visitor to St Luke’s Hospice, in Nethermayne, admits it was “surreal” when her daughter sent her a link to the film, which won the Outstanding British Film award at the Baftas and is in the running for the Best Picture accolade at this year’s Oscars.

Eddie Redmayne, who shot to fame in film My Week with Marilyn, has also received awards for his portrayal of Hawking, who was told he had just two years to live after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease, more than five decades ago.

Mrs Higginson was given the news she had the progressive condition, which damages the nervous system in the brain and spinal cord, eight years ago, after experiencing shakes.

It means messages gradually stop reaching muscles, leading to weakness, stiffness and muscle-wasting, which can affect how sufferers walk, talk, eat, drink and breathe.

Mrs Higginson believes the film has helped raise awareness of the disease, which she admits she knew little about until she was diagnosed.

She added: “I can’t fault Eddie’s performance, if I had been introduced to him I would never have guessed he was acting and didn’t actually have motor neurone disease.

“That is down to the fact that he spent so much time researching it and with people who have it.”