City's famous 'flying saucer' reports inspire play

Reports of a glowing red saucer-shaped object seen landing near a housing estate in the 1960s has sparked a new play.

On the evening of 2 September, 1967, there were dozens of reported sightings of a flying saucer and bright lights above Bentilee, an estate in Stoke-on-Trent.

News reports from the time featured a woman who said it seemed like a saucer that changed colours. Another woman said the light did not give off any heat, it was just a red glow.

Deb McAndrew, author of Bright Lights Over Bentilee, said people saw something and "I believe them when they tell me they did".

In a 1960s news report covering the unexplained events, a woman said: "It seemed like a saucer and then it changed in different colours.

"It changed like... red and then it... come into like a greenish colour and then a blue."

Another woman next to her added: "There was no heat. It was just a red glow, like a sunset."