1960s UFO sighting that gripped a Stoke-on-Trent community inspires new play

Published

10 months ago

September 27, 2024

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An unassuming field next to a housing estate in Stoke-on-Trent is taking centre stage in the latest alien blockbuster – and it’s inspired by true events.

The new stage production, Bright Lights Over Bentilee, focuses on the event in which dozens of people on an estate in the town claimed to have witnessed bright lights in the sky and a UFO landing in the field next to their homes.

Sky News went to meet playwright and former Coronation Street star Deborah McAndrew, to discuss what happened on the 2nd of September 1967 and why she felt compelled to bring the story to life.

“What they saw was a large red saucer-shaped object about the size of a car,” she explained.

On that night, just after 9pm there were eight separate sightings from people claiming to have seen a mysterious “glowing craft” which silently flew over the heads of residents.

Housewives, children, even a police officer said they saw it, that it changed colour and then dropped down into scrubland.

They claimed, as they set about searching through the fields for it, it then “took off and was bright white like a car headlight… and then just disappeared”.

McAndrew found herself delving into what happened after coming across some old news footage of interviews with residents at the time.

Fascinated by how locals seemingly went back to work the next day and carried on as normal, she started doing her own digging which included speaking with one of the young kids who’d chased it.

“When nothing happens it just gradually fades into myth… until some random playwright phones you up 50 years later and says ‘do you want to tell me about that UFO you saw?'” McAndrew explained.

While she admits “there’s no way of knowing now what it was” the writer says “when people tell me they’ve seen things, I believe them”.

While doubters might speculate that, coming at the time of the space race, locals perhaps might have confused a UFO with a satellite, McAndrew points out: “It was a landing, it didn’t just fly in the sky, it came down and then took off again.”

Could TV shows be partly to blame? As sci-fi related culture took off, the MoD saw a gradual increase in reports of UFO sightings.

Actress Polly Lister, who plays a housewife called Beverley in the play, says: “It would be very hard to completely write it off because every single one of those people, I believe, is telling the truth of what they saw.”

Eddy Westbury, who also stars in the drama, says: “You hear a lot of things people have seen in America… this one is particularly interesting purely because of all the accounts… completely different people, in different places… it wasn’t like [they] saw a green man jumping out of a vehicle, literally what they saw, what they experienced, they all seem to line up.”

Did locals see something ‘out of this world?’

No doubt the truth is out there somewhere, but until then, they’ll have to make-do with the dramatised version which follows the community fall-out from that night.

Claybody Theatre’s Bright Lights Over Bentilee runs until 12 October at The Dipping House, Stoke.

Entertainment

Ex-Superman Dean Cain to join ICE ‘ASAP’ to ‘save America’

Published

4 hours ago

August 7, 2025

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Ex-Superman Dean Cain to join ICE 'ASAP' to 'save America'

Dean Cain has been branded the “worst superman ever” as he announced he will join the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “ASAP”.

The 59-year-old, who was cast as Superman in the TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, announced he had joined the team amid the federal agency’s unprecedented immigration raids.

He told Fox News on Wednesday his recruitment video on Instagram had gone viral and since then, “I have spoken with some of the officials over at ICE and I will be sworn in as an ICE agent ASAP”.

“You can defend your homeland and get great benefits,” he said in the Instagram post where he appealed for his followers to join ICE.

Speaking with the Superman theme song in the background, he said “hundreds of thousands of criminals” had been arrested since US President Donald Trump took office.

He then told his followers they would get a series of benefits if they joined ICE, including a $50,000 (£37,407) signing bonus and student loan repayment.

“If you want to help save America ICE is arresting the worst of the worst and removing them from America’s streets,” he said, before adding: “I voted for that.”

ICE agents are under pressure from the White House to boost their deportation numbers in line with Mr Trump’s campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration.

Cain’s post on Instagram received some backlash, with one user commenting: “Worst superman ever”.

Another said: “Shame on you Dean – that’s the most un-Superman thing you could possibly advocate.”

One fan turned against him and said: “Until I saw this I was such a fan. What a sad human being you must be.”

Entertainment

Anna Friel: Pensioner who stalked Marcella star for nearly three years to be sentenced next month

Published

5 hours ago

August 7, 2025

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Anna Friel: Pensioner who stalked Marcella star for nearly three years to be sentenced next month

A man who stalked actress Anna Friel for nearly three years is to be sentenced next month.

Phil Appleton, 71, sent numerous messages, visited the actress’s home address several times and left “unwanted” gifts between January 2022 and December last year, Reading Crown Court previously heard.

The defendant, described online as an actor and retired pilot, admitted stalking under Section 2A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 earlier this week.

Appleton was due to be sentenced on Thursday but judge Alan Blake adjourned the hearing until 18 September for a pre-sentence report to be carried out.

The court heard the pensioner, from Windsor in Berkshire, has been in custody for six months and has spent time in a mental health facility.

Granted conditional bail, he was told he must not contact Ms Friel or enter the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and is to co-operate with those conducting the pre-sentence report.

Friel, 49, rose to fame with her role as Beth Jordache in Channel 4 soap opera Brookside.

She achieved international renown in 2007, starring as Charlotte “Chuck” Charles in the ABC comedy series Pushing Daisies.

In 2017, she won the International Emmy for Best Actress for her role as the title character in the ITV and Netflix mystery drama series Marcella

Entertainment

Oasis gig at Murrayfield in Edinburgh beats Taylor Swift for most ‘ground-shaking’ concert

Published

6 hours ago

August 7, 2025

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Oasis gig at Murrayfield in Edinburgh beats Taylor Swift for most 'ground-shaking' concert

Oasis provided the most “ground-shaking” performance at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium when they last performed there in 2009, according to analysis of seismic data.

The Gallagher brothers’ last Scottish gig has topped the chart for the most powerful seismic concert at the venue in the past 20 years, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said.

Oasis’ June 2009 gig beat the Red Hot Chili Peppers in June 2004, Kings of Leon in June 2011 and Taylor Swift in June 2024 – when measuring the peak earthshaking power of each event.

The measurements were taken from a seismic monitoring station, some 4km from the venue.

At peak power of 215.06kW, the Oasis gig was more than twice as powerful as the next strongest one by the Red Hot Chili Peppers at 106.87kW.

Murrayfield Stadium’s most seismic concerts:

• Oasis: 17 June 2009, 215.06kW
• Red Hot Chili Peppers: 14 June 2004, 106.87kW
• Kings of Leon: 26 June 2011, 96.18kW
• Taylor Swift: 8 June 2024, 82.56kW
• Foo Fighters: 8 September 2015, 78.65kW
• Harry Styles: 26 May 2023, 65.38kW
• Beyonce: 20 May 2023, 29.31kW
• Robbie Williams: 31 May 2025, 14.18kW
• Bon Jovi: 22 June 2011, 13.20kW
• Spice Girls: 8 June 2019, 10.63kW
• One Direction: 3 June 2014, 6.82kW

The rankings were revealed ahead of Oasis’ return to the Scottish capital this weekend as part of their comeback tour.

The power output is not related to the volume of the band or the crowd; rather, it is the movement of fans jumping and dancing in time to the music, with the height of the jumping and weight of the crowd also potential factors.

BGS seismologist Callum Harrison said: “In 2009, seismic signals generated by Oasis fans were consistent with a crowd energy of 215kW at its peak – enough to power around 30 of the scooters featured on the iconic Be Here Now album cover.

“Our network of sensors around the country is sensitive enough to pick up ground movement from a source miles away that may not be detectable to humans – and precise enough to register exact timestamps for when the events occur.

“The peak energy reading was recorded around 8.30pm on that June evening back in 2009, which correlates to the time the band first took the stage and performed Rock ‘N’ Roll Star, which couldn’t be more fitting in terms of topping our seismic music chart.”

The BGS keeps an archive of continuous ground motion recordings from seismic sensors around the country, dating back several decades.

Mr Harrison said: “Improving our understanding of historical earthquakes is an important part of BGS research in trying to understand and mitigate the seismic risk around the country.”

Oasis will take to Murrayfield’s stage on Friday, Saturday and Tuesday, so there is potential for another “shakermaker”.

Mr Harrison said it is “certainly possible” the band could top their 2009 gig, adding: “We’ll just have to wait and see.

“The main contributing factors are going to be how energetic the crowd is. If they’re jumping along with the music, how high or how fast are they jumping?”