'Sprinkled with stardust' Stoke's legendary UFO lands on stage

For residents of the Bentilee estate in Stoke-on-Trent, once one of the largest in Europe and made up almost entirely of social housing, life had been tough.

- Nadia Khomami

But for a brief few moments, during one night more than 50 years ago, people on the sprawling complex of semi-detached houses and cottage flats were "sprinkled with stardust" when dozens witnessed bright lights in the sky and what they believed to be a UFO landing in a nearby field.

The encounter on 2 September 1967, considered one of the UK's greatest urban mysteries, is now being turned into a stage play by the dramatist and former Coronation Street actor Deborah McAndrew. The playwright, who runs Claybody Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent with her husband, Conrad Nelson, has spoken to several witnesses and former residents.