A Burnley filmmaker, who has worked on a number of Channel 4 programmes, has created a video ‘love letter’ to his hometown and it is has been watched by thousands.

Matthew Knight, 39, has created a short film called ‘This is Burnley’ which has been viewed more than 50,000 times on Facebook and has been shared by hundreds.

In the two minute video we see shots of Burnley while Matthew reads out a poem he wrote about the town.

Matthew, a freelance television producer and director, said the aim of the video is to highlight the positive aspects of the town.

He said: “I have lived in Burnley all of my life and there is a long standing joke or running theme about the town [being bad].

“If you’re not from Burnley you never seem to know the full picture about the town.

“Newspapers and reports always tend to show the not so nice areas of the town.

“With the film I wanted to show the town’s full story and what it can offer, both good and bad.”

While the poem was written in 10 minutes the video, which was published on Valentine’s Day, was filmed and edited over the course of a few weeks.

He said: “The Valentine’s Day post wasn’t intentional as that was just when I had finished the film.

“The video is a love letter to the town as I do love it, for all its beauty and its fault.”

Matthew, who worked on a number of factual entertainment shows such as ‘Find it, Fix It, Flog It’, said he didn’t expect the video to so well received.

He said: “I have been so surprised about the reaction. I thought it might get maybe 10,000 views, not more than 50,000.

“The reception has been amazing. I think a lot of people have wanted something like this to be made, just to tell the whole picture of the town.

“People have messaged saying it brought a tear to their eye and made them homesick.

“I want to thank everyone for sharing it. I don’t have a huge online presence and it means a lot that people are going out of their way to get more eyes on the story.”

Since posting the video online, many have left supportive comments.

One person said: “This is fabulous! Definitely heading to Burnley for my next staycation.”

Another said: “Superb pal, you've really made me miss home this morning.”

“Watching this has made me want to pay a visit sometimes. Great film, and wonderful words,” said another.