Every year the Welsh embrace their literary hero Dylan Thomas in a literary festival that reignites the passions of his admirers. Sky Arts's Backstage was there in Swansea in 2000 to chronicle the highs and the lows, the hiccups, the last minute changes, and the tireless work of the Dylan aficionados to get the events rolling.

Interviews with the participants and contributors to the festival, quotations from Thomas's poems, excerpts from his only play Under Milk Wood - staged since the 1940s by his congregation faithful to the word - and biographical information give a fascinating insight into the life and afterlife of the alcoholic genius, outsider and cult author, who loved poetry more than poets; and who might have been slightly amused to see the accolades heaped on him decades after his death.

Thomas's influence has been enormous. The biblical language in American singer Bob Dylan's early songs like The times they are a-changin' caused poet Allen Ginsberg to speak in 1975 of the singer's "songs of redemption". A different kind of redemption takes place in Swansea for Dylan Thomas - who, it is said, was the motivation for the name change of the former Robert Zimmermann to become Bob Dylan (who, in turn, inspired the English fast bowler Bob Willis to add 'Dylan' to his given names).