I believe we have found a film property which will touch the nation anew

Co-producer David Kelly

Oscar-winner Colin Welland - who took an Academy Award for Chariots of Fire - has scripted the film, based on the story of the pit in Hirwaun, near Aberdare.

Working Title Films, which created Notting Hill, is teaming up with David P Kelly Productions to make the �6m film about the miners who fought the closure of their pit and won.

In 1994 the last miners at the colliery - the last deep pit in what was once the mining heartland of Wales - pooled their life-savings and bought the colliery as moves were made to shut the mine.

With the odds stacked against them, the workers and their union leader Tyrone O'Sullivan formed Tebo (Tower Employees Buy-Out) to take on the running of a colliery they were told was uneconomical.

'Incredible odds'

And they went on to further confound their critics when they began to make a profit.

The film, directed by Welsh-born Marc Evans, will chronicle the struggle, although no casting decisions have yet been made.

Shooting is expected to begin in spring next year.

The story about the colliery has already been transformed into an opera.

Co-producer David Kelly said: "The story of the Tebo miners touched a nation and the rest of the world who watched in horror as a Government and world market forces tried to systematically destroy an entire people and their town.

"In Colin's script, I believe we have found a film property which will touch the nation anew and show that the courage and conviction of ordinary people can win against incredible odds."

Pit closures have already provided the background to a British movie hit, with Brassed Off starring Ewan McGregor and Tara Fitzgerald.