Historic archive footage is to be broadcast next week to illustrate one of Preston's greatest and most-inspiring sporting stories.

On Monday, the BBC's Nation on Film will screen the tale of Dick Kerr's Ladies, a phenomenally successful football team, which wowed the nation between the wars.

In the programme, Sir David Jason narrates the story of how the rise and fall of women's football was captured on film.

Using professional and amateur archive, Nation on Film reveals how a group of World War One munitions workers from Preston became international celebrities.

The Dick Kerr Ladies team were unofficially crowned the women's England football team.

But in 1921 the Football Association outlawed the women's game, banning it from football league grounds for 50 years.

Series producer Jacob Hickey, said: "Once I saw film footage from the North West Film Archive I knew that this was a story that had to be told.

"The team toured France in 1920 and in the same year they managed to draw a crowd of 53,000 spectators at Goodison Park, against St Helen's Ladies."

They also played regularly at Deepdale in front of thousands of people and Dick Kerr's Ladies featured in the Pathe newsreels of the day.

Players like Lily Parr and Alice Woods became famous countrywide.

The team was formed at Preston factory Dick Kerr & Co to improve wartime morale. They played 828 games, winning 758, drawing 46, and losing just 24!

Nation on Film is on BBC Two on Monday, March 12 at 7.30pm.