It’s been long rumoured, the story of a hoard of buried Star Wars Palitoy action figures in Coalville, the home of UK Star Wars figures in the 70’s and 80’s, and to dig further into the legend Leicester filmmaker Matt Holt has made a documentary – In A Landfill Far Far Away – that looks at th loneg-held belief that these iconic figures are still hidden away somewhere underground.
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.
