THIS was the moment when two illustrious sons of the Potteries became one.

The man in the photograph is the distinguished Dresden-born character actor Freddie Jones, pictured in the street outside Burslem Town Hall.

He is wearing the elegant evening dress of a notable Edwardian gentlemen, namely the eminent novelist Enoch Arnold Bennett.

Freddie had returned to his native Stoke-on-Trent to star in a TV programme marking the 50th anniversary of Bennett's death.

Granada Television had invited the Potteries' greatest actor to portray its greatest man of letters.

It was inspired casting, not least because as dressed and made up for the role, Freddie bore a striking resemblance to the author of Anna Of The Five Towns, The Card and Clayhanger.

Pictured with a member of the production team, he might have been the ghost of Bennett revisiting 'Bursley', perhaps about to step into the nearby 'Tiger Hotel,' better known as The Leopard.

Broadcast on March 12, 1981, the programme in Granada's Celebration series relied heavily on Freddie's resemblance to the novelist.

Authentic Potteries locations were used in a documentary which looked back over Bennett's life and times, using his own words and thoughts.

Starting at the time when the writer rushed back to Burslem in 1914 to be at the bedside of his dying mother, the programme included footage shot inside 205, Waterloo Road, Cobridge, the house where she died.

Freddie, now a octogenarian, reached a new audience in recent years when he became a regular in the award-winning TV soap, Emmerdale.

He made an instant impression as Sandy Thomas, the estranged father of vicar Ashley. "Like me, Sandy is an enigmatic, incurable romanticist," said Freddie.

What some Emmerdale fans may not know is that during a long career Freddie has appeared in more than 160 film and television productions, as well as his innumerable stage roles, and achieved international recognition for his performance as Claudius in the TV series The Caesars, the role that made him a star.

What is your favourite performance by local character actor Freddie Jones? Write to Colette Warbrook at Features Desk, The Sentinel, Forge Lane, Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent ST1 5SS, remembering to include your full address and a daytime telephone number, or email colette.warbrook@thesentinel.co.uk