A VOLUNTEER working on the recently acquired Dennis Potter archive at the Dean Heritage Centre has unearthed a 'lost' manuscript by the acclaimed Forest author.

While mentioned in a biography of the Shortstanding-born writer, copies of a copy of the screenplay for 'Sins Of The Fathers' had not previously been seen.

The manuscript is said to be based on the book of the same title which Potter reviewed for The Times in 1967, which he then turned into a screenplay the following year.

Nathalie Hall from the Dean Heritage Centre told the Review: "We are just utterly delighted to find this. It is quite amazing what we are finding as we go through the archive – though at times it poses some problems, such as with annotations to manuscripts which could have been done by Dennis Potter himself, but which may actually be just doodles by his children!"

The entire archive of Dennis Potter material was bought by the Dean Heritage Centre from his family, and is currently being sorted and catalogued with the help of volunteers including Hannah Grist, who actually discovered the artistically priceless document.