The film of the book

  "In 1971 while a 19-year-old film student I photographed the remarkable characters of Merthyr Tydfil in the South Wales valleys. I then put the photographs in a box and put them away under the stairs. Nearly forty years later I found the box. Exhibitions and a book followed. The more I looked at the images the more I wanted to know what had become of these people. I then embarked on a personal journey and returned to my hometown of Merthyr to film the people and places. Their stories turned out to be more extraordinary than I could ever have imagined. Some talked of their lost childhood dreams but there were violent deaths, murders, MI5 involvement and one had a novel written about his short dramatic life."

The film has now been edited and is in post production.