When Alan Plater's play Close The Coalhouse Door opened in Newcastle in 1968, there were queues around the block and whole mining villages would on a bus and drive into town to see the history of their industry on stage.

The run had to be extended five times and the play would end up as part of the A-level syllabus.

Plater, whose TV work included The Beiderbecke Trilogy and A Very British Coup, died two years ago.

This has inspired Samuel West to direct a revival of Close The Coalhouse Door.

He enlisted the help of Lee Hall, the writer of Billy Elliott, to update the script so that it would reflect the Miners' Strike of 1984.

Entertainment correspondent Colin Paterson spoke to them ahead of this Friday's opening night at Newcastle's Northern Stage.

Get in touch with Today via email , Twitter or Facebook or text us on 84844.