a new era begins, as the brexit transition period ends and the uk completes its formal separation from the european union. doctors warn that hospital staff in the uk are at battlestations as the number of patients with coronavirus continues to rise. they are turning whole floors into additional icu space. that's when we know we are in a very challenging place. ben big chimes. and bringing in the new year — from london to new york, fireworks mark the start of 2021 but celebrations are dampened by the pandemic. some breaking news now. we have the covid figures for the day, the uk recording 613 deaths on friday, and

there were 96a deaths today before. 53,285 new cases recorded on friday, there is a drop from 55,892 the day before. now on bbc news, superfan david whiteley celebrates how an unassuming band of designers and factory workers in leicestershire created the toys which were to define a generation. archive: the princess has been captured... there's one. set for stun. our heroes are threatened by an imperial troop transporter. will the mighty force of the millennium falcon be enough to smash darth vader? will luke be able to save the princess? only you can decide. look for the new palitoy star wars models in toy shops now. ominous voice: but hurry! the 1970s. film—maker george lucas is about to

launch a visionary new film that will revolutionise cinema. this is not that story. this story is actually about this place. i'm david whiteley and i'm a massive star wars fan. and growing up, the toys were as much a part of my childhood as the films. they became the must—have toys of a generation, and what was once bought with pocket money now sells for thousands of pounds. but it almost didn't happen. back in the day, as the name suggests, coalville was a coal mining town, but also, a toy town, home to palitoy, makers of tiny tears, mainline and action man. # action man! and his transport command. tough, realistic models specially designed for action man. action man was one of the biggest toy brands in britain, thanks to the team of designers at palitoy. action man came out in 1966.

ijoined in 1967. this is the very latest toys that you can find in the shops, and he is, in fact, called action man. i sculpted the gripping hand... ..based on this one. action man fans called it the hand of bob. but there was something else on the horizon that was potentially bigger. archive: star wars, a billion years in the making. and it's coming to your galaxy this summer. the problem was, we didn't know what it was. we'd heard of star wars and we knew there was a lot of hype around it and we knew george lucas was making the film, but the first time i actually knew what star wars was was at the preview in london in 1977. one day, geoff maisey, he came up to me with two tickets and he said, "you must go and see this film, bob, down in london." "all right, sounds good." and it was star wars. i was a science fiction fan. so i thought, "well,

if there's a lot of hype "in america about this film, it must be pretty good." so i was quite excited about it, yeah. i'd never heard of star wars, but they said, "there's a film, "we can give you a quick looksie." i said, "well, let's have a wee looksie." so i went down to london and saw it in a little sneaky cinema... it blew my mind when it started, when the spaceship went on and on and on and on and on. i was amazed. it was just a toy maker's dream. palitoy‘s sisterfirm in the us had bought the rights to star wars. archive: the star wars early bird certificate package, new from kenner. kenner really wanted palitoy to take it on for the uk and europe. but even though the managing director of palitoy was really optimistic about the potential of star wars, he wanted to give it to another toy company in the group who he felt needed it more than palitoy. i was also looking after denys fisher and chad valley, who are soft toy manufacturers. and i said to bernie loomis,

who was peddling this product... i said, "well, this is great. i've seen the film, it's superb. but i've got to think in terms of 'do palitoy need it?‘ because they are underpinned by action man. " denys fisher, on the other hand, they've only got the spirograph, so they could do with a kick upstairs. but then i said, "i'll come back to you, bernie." so i then spoke to the management at denys fisher and they said, "huh! no, we can't possibly take that on." i said, "why not?" he said, "well, we're doing a deal with..." i think it was man from atlantis, some water...underwater thing! and i said, "yeah, i like star wars. i've seen the film. i think it's magnificent." and they said, "well, it's only one film and that'll fade away. we should... we've got 12 tv programmes

coming out on the strength of this man from atlantis." i said, "are you sure you're doing the right thing?" and they said, "yes." i said, "ok, well, palitoy will end up doing star wars, then." so i get back to bernie and he said, "i'm glad you've done that." he said, "you've given them the option, they've turned it down." he said, "they're fools" and... "if you do the job with star wars that you did on action man, we'll... we'll laugh all the way to the bank." i said, "0k...start laughing!" little did denys fisher know what they'd passed on. well, palitoy had the deal now. the next thing was to work out how they were going to make those toys. but kenner‘s design template for the star wars range, which they had to follow, wasn't perhaps quite what they were expecting. the problem we had was it was a very small action figure, it was a 3.75—inch action figure. it had to be because of the scale of the vehicles. and usually, action figures were in the 9—inch to 12—inch range.

action man was a 12—inch action figure. so the trade looked at us and said, "here you are, trying to launch a space—themed action figure line tied to a movie with an action figure size that's not common. we don't want to know." but we knew from our sister company in the usa that lucas was already planning a trilogy of films. so we knew there was a longevity to the concept. but we also knew that the toys themselves, with the movie backing, were tremendous. but the trade buyers didn't share our enthusiasm. we had nothing to sell. we actually had resin models of some of the key product, photographs... and of course, that didn't help because the trade looked at that and said, "well, you'll never ship it anyway. why should i list it? if you're at this stage now, you won't be able to ship finished product." already under pressure, two of the team headed off on a fact—finding mission to kenner hq in cincinnati, ohio, for a bit of inspiration.

we got a letterfrom kenner, saying, "we want some guys to come over." so it was roger and i who went over to kenner. roger was the tooling manager. while we were there, it's the time when they were getting the first shots of the tie fighter and the x—wing fighter. it was great. we were the first ones to see some of these mouldings. and, then, obviously, meeting friends and colleagues in the kenner organisation, who obviously told me what was being made and what was going to be made, obviously, in europe as well. so you got an idea of what to expect when it came over to the uk, both from the point of view of manufacturing the plastic articles, but also any problems that they might have had in their production. so i'd gotten the component drawings, ie, the bits of plastic that you're going to make the toy from, to make the tools in the uk. what we would normally have from kenner usa would be market data of their sales, play testing results and cinema box office takings, which we could then go to our major

customers and say, "this is how successful this thing is." the problem was there was no toy line yet. so we had no information to give to them at all. ironically, action man came to our assistance. that was the leading toy brand at the time, and it was also the key competitor to star wars. and what we did was we tied discounts to their orders on action man to get them to take star wars. and that was too generous for them to refuse. and that's how we got it onto the shelves. but retailers were still sceptical about star wars and reluctant to invest. so palitoy had to come up with some cost—effective ways of making the toys. you have to remember, this was a film that people weren't sure about. the retailers and shops, they were reluctant to take stuff 'cause it was a... what they thought was a b movie. you know, science fiction, all that business. so we had to be very careful how we designed things.

palitoy had no money to develop anything... ..on the star wars range. the american death star was... well, it was a great big lump of plastic, really. injection moulded. and, of course, they got a big market in the states. about ten times the uk market. so they could make thousands and thousands of these death stars and get it sold at a good price. if we borrowed their tools to do it over here, we wouldn't, you know... we'd mould perhaps a tenth of what they did, so our price would be even more expensive. we had a brief to design it in cord, because we hadn't got all the tooling money. we did a sort of half dome. so it looked more like a death star, in my mind, and it had little rooms where you could go round and play out the scenes in the film. we just came up with different ideas, different themes within it, like the tower in the middle. but then i felt, when i'd seen the film, it seemed to go on forever.

and so we decided to put a mirror at the bottom to give that same effect. you know, it's sort of never—ending. put a bit of silver paper there, and hey— ho. and also... ..and a little chute for him to go through. make sure the figures went through that part. and the corridor across... you've got to have it so it does, in fact, work easily. and the cord is not going to tear and break. the death star box... ..i designed that from scratch. i got a mock—up of the actual product. so it was reallyjust showing the product mainly, but put a kid in there, playing with it. and we used my son as the model. seemed easy to use my lad. in the run—up to christmas of '78, almost a year after the film's release, the toys were still flying

off the shelves, and that was putting real pressure on the team at the palitoy factory. there's only one word to describe it and that was "manic", because we're under so much pressure to get so much out in such a short period of time. but it was something that was different. it wasn't hosiery and knitwear, it was toys, and toys are fascinating. every time you made a figure — put the back on, grab two legs, grab two arms, grab the head... ..push it down, put it on the belt — you had to click how many you had made. so whatever you'd made in a day, you would make so much of that money. the supervisor was a lady named wendy. she was rather like a school mistress, actually, because most of the girls... we were young girls, 17, 18, and, you know, if you were flagging, "what are you doing? come on. we've got to get this quota out." so you couldn't sit and chat. thanks to their hard graft, the targets were being met. and now, those previously reluctant retailers finally wanted

a piece of the action. i had the guy from john menzies, and he did like the odd drink of scotch, and we put a bottle of scotch in front of him and a glass and said, "have a think how many star wars figures you're going to have." and star wars figures at that time were selling for about £1.12, £1.20. i think it was £1.12. and so... ..i went back to him about 20 minutes later, half an hour later, maybe, and he was only about a third of the way down the bottle, which was quite good for him, really. and i said, "right, bill, how many figures are you going to have?" and he said, "i think i'm going to have a million." and i said, "oh, right, good." the star wars range had revolutionised toys, and now the marketing department was trying something different as well, but only if they could get it past the advertising standards authority. one of the breakthroughs we had was in the advertising campaign.

what we were trying to do was to capture all the action and the excitement of the movie into the advert. so what the advertising agent came up with was we'll take a ten—second clip from the movie of the product we're going to sell and then tag it with a 20—second product sell of the product itself. the asa said, "no, you won't. "that's illegal because your products don't do what it shows on the film." so in the end, we had to show — which we had storyboarded anyway — we had to demonstrate to them that the snowspeeder attacking the at—at could be replicated by the kid doing that with it. luke: i'm coming in! announcer: can luke in his snowspeeder halt the imperial walker? and that's how we got it through. and it made a tremendous difference to demand. announcer: return of the jedi -

the death—defying speeder bike chase. the speeder bikes battle it out with these terrific star wars models, adjustable cannon, manually—operated speed flaps, breakaway front—end. who will triumph in this daredevil race against all odds? only you can decide with star wars toys. but behind the scenes, there were other forces at work. palitoy‘s parent company — food giant general mills — was starting to question why they got into toys in the first place. it just got to the point where they couldn't really accept losses from some parts of the business that they weren't used to — in particular, for example, parker brothers in the us decided to enter into the video games area, which was, a, very expensive and, b, highly volatile. and i think they actually came to grief and lost

a huge amount of money, which i think, for general mills, was the last straw. we were actually... we were put onto the stock market, basically, and bought. in just under ten years, the company changed hands three times. but their destiny had already been written. toy giant hasbro were the very last to own the factory in coalville when it closed “119911. it was a good time. as i say, i think i did my growing up here. but, yes, i always look at it with fond memories. any otherjob? it's never been the same as palitoy. but the legacy of palitoy and their star wars range is celebrated by fans and collectors who were captivated by star wars all those years ago. as a seven—year—old kid, 1977, i was lucky enough to see it in leicester square with my mum and dad. and i was just like, "what is this? you know, what have i come to see?" and of course, it was... at that time, it was manic. it was mania. everywhere was star wars.

it was star wars everything. and it was just so much excitement, so much excitement. i've never forgotten it. i was just blown away by it because it was so different to everything else that had been offered before it. as a child, there was just nothing that was even related or comparable to it — and it was all—consuming. and so i think as soon as you walked out of the cinema, it was just like, "how can i connect back to this? what's my journey. you know, "now that i've seen it, now that i've attached myself to this, now i'm totally sold on it." and it was the merchandise. so it was those first action figures as they started coming out. it was just like, "yeah, i've got to get that. you know, i just... no matter what happens, i've got to have some of those." stephen has channelled his passion for the movies, which started with star wars and its toys, into a global company specialising in selling movie props and merchandise. and he started it all by selling his own collection. a lot of the star wars toys — the action figures and things that i held on to — when i first started the company that i run today, they got sold.

it was all about making the decision to let them go and reinvest that money in film props and costumes. and that was some of the first things that went, and i shudder to think what i sold them for now by comparison to what they're worth today. today, palitoy star wars toys, which were bought for pocket money in the '70s and '80s, have a unique value in the star wars collecting world. so in the auction room, we've got neil, our auctioneer, taking bids from people in the room. we've got phone bidders, we've got internet bidders. literally, this is a worldwide procedure. and, yeah, it's a two—day bonanza of toys. palitoys are massively popular. i think there's a palitoy tax referred to just because there's so few items made by palitoy compared to kenner. there's a definite slant towards people of a certain age who were young at the time the films came out, and i think it's a little bit of a chance to go back

to their childhood and just capture a little bit of the fun that they had when they were 12 years old, playing little jedi battles. but it's... the collecting mentality has really taken off in kind of the past decade, and this is something that's very manageable to display and to, like, have in your house. everyone can see it. they know exactly what it is. and it'sjust something really heart—warming to see people get so passionate about it. as stephen's business grew, he was able to buy the palitoy star wars toys for himself all over again — but this time, they'd be preserved as part of his own special collection. i'm not interested in selling them. i don't look at what the market values are for them. it took me so long to get back to the point where i could actually acquire them again and have them. but... you know, ijust turn on the lights in the display case and stand there and just sort of stare, really. it's seeing them in that pristine

condition thatjust draws you right back to when you were in the toy store, seeing them just as they'd come out of the box. and it... it just doesn't get any better than that. i think there's still a huge amount of love for palitoy, and i think there's a huge amount for palitoy globally now — as a brand — and i think that what we see now is collectors from all over the world who strive to own some of those rare palitoy action figures — so beautifully branded — and it becomes central and pivotal to a lot of those collections as well. so i think all of that work during that period that was done, all of that creative that came about, is going to live on for so many more years. and my palitoy figures are encased in acrylic now. they're going to be preserved forever. i mean, these things are going nowhere. hello and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. welcome to the prop store, our vintage toys and collectables sale. let's get us going, then. we're going to start, of course, with lot one,

which is your y—wing fighter. we can go 70, 75 to start this off. you've got 125. we've moved straight on, on the saleroom. 150 now. and onto lot 134, which is a palitoy c—3p0 this time. thank you very much. 500 now. 500? 600? 700? 800? let's move on. boba fett here. there we are, ladies and gents, with tri—logo version. 1,200,1,300,1,400,1,500, 1,600,1,700,1,800, 1,900 and £2,000 straight in. hammer's up. and selling, then, at £2,000. sold to you there. let's move on. the death star play set. 500,600,700. 800. £900. 1,000,1,100. 1,200, 1,300. gentleman's bid in the room.

yours, sir! well done. well, yeah. i mean, iwish i put a few in the garage. he laughs. i've always thought that! i got, yeah, about six figures. no death star. if anybody's out there got one, want to give me one, i'll gladly take one. even though the palitoy team ended their time together at coalville in 1985, they've kept in touch. they created a toy empire, one to be treasured and loved as part of our childhoods in that galaxy far, far away. ifind it incredible, actually, that star wars ever made it. when you look back, you think how fragile that start was. you know, the trade didn't want to take it. we were pushing and trying to get things, we couldn't get product. but behind it all, the consumer was desperate for it. there were tremendous products at palitoy, not just star wars figures. and what did i do with them? they've all gone. i could've sold it for lots of money by now, but... hey—ho.

it's still very, very highly thought of, isn't it, by collectors and enthusiasts? and i suppose children who had them in the first days are collectors now, aren't they? even now — this might sound really sad, and my wife thinks it's exceedingly sad — i dream about what we used to do here. yeah, you sort of look at each toy, and you've given time to think about... you've got the history of the problems, you know, what went on with it, and some of the personnel that you had on it. i think that we've a lot to be proud of. you know, we actually launched star wars and made it what it is. other companies now have taken it and extended it. but without those efforts in the early days, it wouldn't be here. so, yeah, i'm really proud. music plays

hello. the year may have changed, but the weather, not so much. it is still cold out there and will remain cold for the next few days. some showers and a mixture of sleet and snow and also some sunshine. in the satellite picture, you can see a lot of cloud that has been pushing its way southwards, which has been producing some rain with sleet and snow over high ground, and that has been pushing across england and wales and will continue to do so through the rest of the day. some showers across eastern coasts of england into parts of northern

and north—east scotland. some of these wintry on high ground, but even to quite low levels later in the day. not a bad end to the day in northern ireland, but it will turn chilly into the first part of the evening and then through the night it will get very cold indeed particularly where we have clear skies. some showers for the north coast in northern ireland and northern scotland. and some cloud, mist and murk towards the south—east. where we have those clear skies in the west and in the north—west, that is where it will get coldest of all into tomorrow morning. lows of —7 or —8. a chilly start to saturday with some ice around but there should be some sunshine in many spots. some showers for northern ireland, west wales, devon and cornwall and more for eastern scotland and england. some of those may drift inland towards parts of the north midlands as we go through the afternoon. could be some sleet and snow mixing in with those. another pretty chilly day on saturday. as we get into sunday, this area of high pressure

wobbles its way northwards, we slightly shift the wind direction. the winds will come in from the north—east and will be stronger by sunday as well, so it is going to feel particularly raw in those strong winds. but that will focus showers into eastern areas, whereas further west it should be dry by this stage. those temperatures will struggle, as i mentioned. add on the strength of the wind and it will feel really cold and raw. into the start of next week, high—pressure to the north, lower pressure down to the south. quite a few white lines on the chart squashing together. that shows it will be windy to monday and into tuesday, particularly across the southern part of the uk. that wind coming from a relatively cold place so it'll stay chilly actually throughout the coming week and we are likely to see some rain, sleet and snow at times.

the new variant of coronavirus is confirmed as being much more transmissible than the original strain. it's left hospitals struggling to cope with a steep rise in numbers. experts say that, even with a lockdown, it could spread fast. the number of cases over the same period could triple,