When South Oxhey emerged in the 1940s there was a "utopian spirit" about that place says John Schad, who has spent the last few years adapting his novel, The Late Walter Benjamin, into a play and film, which is about to be premiered.

The film, Nowhere Near Utopia, John says: "attempts to add context to the play, Nowhere Near London - primarily visual with many shots of the estate as it is today, but also vocal with various voices recounting memories of the estate, ranging from the late 1940s to the 1970s.

"Fred Dalmasso, our director, hopes that the film will communicate something of the beauty of many parts of the estate as well as its rich and complex social history."

The 55-year-old author, who grew up on the estate during the 1960s documents the lives and memories not of just his own, but members of the community - dating all the way back.

John explains: "When people started to move to the estate, on the one hand it was very hard, there were, for several years, no roads, no schools, no shops and nowhere to meet. But on the other hand, it was very special being marked by a terrific utopian spirit as an almost exclusively working class community that had the freedom to self organise and remake the world for themselves."

John, who is an English Literature lecturer at Lancaster University, has revisited South Oxhey on a number of occasions to research and to shoot the film. The whole film he says has been shot locally and locations include the main precincts of the estate, in the nearby woods, up and down Muirfield Road, which is where John grew up, an old golf course, the old chapel at All Saints Church and at a friends house, who he has known most of his life.

To be the first to see John's film, Nowhere Near Utopia, visit the Watford Observer website for an exclusive viewing.

The play, Nowhere Near London, which John has rewritten and made longer, will be staged at Watford Palace Theatre, on July 4. Details: 01923, 225671, watfordpalacetheatre.co.uk