LIFE might have been hot on the coal face but it's simply sizzling when ex-miners bare their flesh on stage.

Scenes shot in Astley and Tyldesley Miners Welfare Club won't bear much resemblance to afternoon shift at the Nook Pit as television viewers will see this Saturday.

Millions are expected to tune in to Granada at 9pm when "Bare Necessities" - an hour long mining community play partly filmed at Gin Pit village -is screened.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.