AN EXHIBITION recounting the First World War bombardment of Hartlepool has been extended just as a programme on the town's darkest hour is about to be shown across the country.

The display at the Museum of Hartlepool, in the marina, began on November 25 and was due to end on Saturday.

It has proved so popular, with thousands of visitors passing through, that it is being extended until Wednesday, May 14.

More than 100 people died as shells rained down on the town for about 40 minutes from the three German cruisers Blucher, Seydlitz and Moltke, which emerged from the mist shortly after 8am on December 16, 1914.

Among the casualties was Theo Jones, the first soldier to die on British soil in the war.

The decision to extend the exhibition follows an announcement that the TV programme Bombardment, made by the BBC in the North-East and Cumbria, is to be repeated UK-wide.

First screened on Close Up North in December, it is to be broadcast on Thursday, at 7.30pm, on BBC2 as part of the Home Ground series, which takes BBC's regional programmes to a national audience.