POET W.H. Auden's time teaching at a Helensburgh school will feature heavily in a BBC television documentary this weekend.

'Stop All The Clocks: W.H. Auden In An Age Of Anxiety' will be screened on BBC2 at 9pm this Saturday, September 30.

The documentary draws heavily on evidence uncovered by Helensburgh resident Polly Clark in her novel 'Larchfield', published earlier this year, which dramatised the little-known period of Auden's life in which he taught in Helensburgh.

While living and working in the town, Auden wrote 'The Orators', a book-length collection of poems, diagrams, speeches and jokes which is also full of Helensburgh landmarks.

The book was an inspiration for Polly's novel, and the documentary sees the importance of 'The Orators' discussed by several famous writers, including Alan Bennett, Alexander McCall Smith and Richard Curtis, who used Auden's famous poem, 'Stop All The Clocks' in his smash hit 1994 film 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'.

The part of the documentary featuring Larchfield was shot in Helensburgh, and Larchfield's present-day successor, Lomond School, opened its doors to the crew to interview Polly in its St Bride's Library.

The documentary team also filmed around the town which in many ways is geographically and architecturally unchanged from his time.

Polly said of the film: "W.H. Auden is one of our greatest poets and it is wonderful to discover that such an important part of his life and work took place in Helensburgh.

"I believe The Orators would never have been written without the influence of Helensburgh and the school.

"I've got my popcorn ready to see my home town on national television!"