ITV Wales archive donated to National Library of Wales

ITV Wales' extensive bilingual film and television archive is to be donated to the National Library of Wales' National Screen and Sound Archive in Aberystwyth.

The ITV archive in Wales is one of the biggest television archives in Europe and comprises around 250,000 items including cans of film, tapes and other formats.

It represents a unique cultural, social and political history of Wales over the past 60 years and contains some of the most iconic television images of the times.

A host of stars including Richard Burton, Ivor Emmanuel, Sian Phillips, Sir Geraint Evans and scores of presenters, who were household names in their day, are featured.

The collection of both English and Welsh language material will be transferred to the National Library, where it will be preserved and made freely available for public viewing.

The transfer has been made possible thanks to £1.27 million funding from the Welsh Government.

Under the agreement, ITV Wales will also have full access to the archive for future broadcasts and will be free to commercially exploit the material at any time.

Digital files created from the original materials will be made available to ITV Wales on request.