Bright Lights Over Bentilee
1967—a remarkable year! The Summer of Love, Sergeant Pepper, the launch of the QE2 and BBC Local Radio, Sandie Shaw wins The Eurovision Song Contest, and a flying saucer lands in Stoke-on-Trent…
Oh yes!
Dozens of witnesses saw a glowing, saucer-shaped craft touch down in a field beside the largest council estate in Europe, and for the characters in Claybody’s new drama, life will never be the same again.
Because of all the people on Planet Earth, the pottery folk of Stoke-on-Trent know a saucer when they see one!
On 2 September 1967, dozens of people witnessed bright lights in the sky and a UFO landing in a field beside the Bentilee housing estate. At the time, this was the largest council estate in Europe, and today it remains a sprawling labyrinth of houses, churches, schools, shops and community buildings.
In archive news footage from the time, several witnesses give their accounts of the incident. Local woman Mrs Bowen recalls: "It seemed like a saucer, you know. It changed in different colours—a red, a greenish and a blue. I did get frightened of it when it dropped."
