Dorothy Squires remembered

Dorothy Squires' life is now the focus of a new play at the Sherman theatre in Cardiff.

She is played by none other than Ruth Madoc, who visited ITV to discuss the production.

"My role is when we meet Dorothy when she's gone to Trebanog, which is where she ended her days" she says.

"It's her reminiscing about her life - and it was a heck of life!" she says.

"The other side of the stage, you have a lovely young lady emulating her when she was younger, and singing all her songs".

"I remember her very well. She was an icon".

A blue plaque has been unveiled in Llanelli this week to honour 1950s singing star Dorothy Squires. She was born in the town and went on to become Britain's highest paid female singer of the day.

She often sang to sell out crowds at the London Palladium, and was famous for her turbulent marriage to Sir Roger Moore. She also fell from wealth to abject poverty.

Hannah Thomas looks back at her life.

This archive video shows Dorothy Squires on a return trip to Llanelli in 1966.

She describes how she started out singing with a local band, and how she used to sneak out of the house to get changed in a telephone box - as her father didn't want her to go into showbusiness.

Cardiff theatre Sherman Cymru is currently putting on a production called 'Say It With Flowers', inspired by Dorothy Squires' life and featuring some of her songs.

The theatre says Dorothy "was the pint-sized phenomenon who rose from the Llanelli tin works to the heights of the West End and Broadway to become one of Britain's most successful performers."

"Her life was as dramatic as her songs and was often the focus of media attention; her electrifying on-stage presence, her sell-out comeback at the London Palladium and her tempestuous marriage to Roger Moore, were overshadowed by her predilection for litigation and battles with Rupert Murdoch."

A play inspired by Dorothy's life is currently being staged at Sherman Cymru in Cardiff.