Filmmaker unearths legend of buried Star Wars toys

A long time ago, in a field not so far away…

One of the most enduring of Star Wars stories — a tale of Jedi Knights and the dark forces of the Empire, passed down by word of mouth for decades — has been brought to life in a documentary about the lost landfill of Palitoy action figures.

Legend had it that when the Coalville factory, which made highly collectable toys for the franchise, closed in the 1980s, leftover stock was driven out to a field in Leicestershire and buried.

Filmmaker Matt Holt has made a documentary about the supposed hoard and said: "Next year marks 50 years of Star Wars — let's celebrate the fact we were part of pop culture history."

Through the 1970s and into the 1980s, Palitoy produced millions of figures, vehicles, and playsets using moulds shipped over from the US.

As well as the likes of Action Man, Pippa and the Care Bears, the factory in Jackson Street was the origin story for the plastic figures which became a staple of children's toy boxes for a generation.

Palitoy shut down most of its operations in 1985, with workers laid off and production of Star Wars toys ending.

While the factory left its mark on the town - including Action Man Road, and a roundabout resembling the Death Star - the one location left unmarked was the infamous tip.

Now Leicester filmmaker Matt Holt, whose mother and grandmother both worked at Palitoy, has been chasing the buried treasure around the town for his new documentary - In A Landfill Far Far Away.

He told BBC Radio Leicester: "Richard III, everybody said no it's not here.

"I heard it from a guy in a pub, who said 'what you want to be doing is making the story about the buried Star Wars figures'.

"I'd never heard of it.

"We were a big part of popular culture. Coalville's used to digging things up, it's a mining town.

"They would say that they don't know where these things are because they don't want people going around with spades, do they?

"When a factory does go bankrupt, stock's written off so the taxman will know where they are, because it has to be proved that it won't be sold again.

"Things were being buried and thrown away the whole time that Palitoy was going, especially through the Star Wars period.

"This is a time before recycling. Things were just dumped; it's not just one pit, and not all of it made it to the tip."

As well as the input of Coalville locals, the new film also has a star of its own in Sean Williamson, who played Barry Evans in EastEnders, who makes an appearance as he claims his father drove the truck packed with toys to the tip site.

But Stuart Warburton, of Coalville Heritage Society, said Coalville was not the place to find the droids.

He said: "We all like myths, but unfortunately there's no truth to the legend.

"There was a tip on the outskirts of Coalville that's now in somebody's private field that was used for tipping old packages, Action Men, Tiny Tears, in the 1960s.

"Kids used to go to this field to try and find the old boxes so they could cut the stars out and send off for a free Action Man.

"All the kids in Coalville who are now my age know exactly where that field is, but that was long before the Star Wars toys.

"When the Star Wars toys were disposed of they were taken to a landfill, dumped, lorries and JCBs and crushers drove over them and over them, and then they were all buried before the next load came in.

"So there is a landfill outside Coalville, that is full of lots of smashed up Star Wars toys. There is absolutely no chance of getting your spade and digging and finding that rare Obi-Wan Kenobi figure."

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