The documentary

Digging tunnels under the city is just like any other hobby.

 

William Lyttle, also known as the mole man of hackney, dug a series of tunnels under his property on the corner of Mortimer Road and Stamford Road, in De Beauvoir Town in North London. In 2001, his tunnelling caused a 8 ft (2.4 m) hole to appear in the pavement on Stamford Road. Reports that the tunnelling had started again in 2006 were confirmed when Hackney Council found a web of tunnels and caverns, some 8 m (26 ft) deep, spreading up to 20 m in every direction from his house.

Well, at least that’s the kind of information you could find on the newspapers which talked about the case back in 2006. Lyttle is often described as an old eccentric who basically destroyed a house worth £1,000,000, not very talkative with his neighbors, a bit schizophrenic some would say.
Some others who had the opportunity to know him before he passed away would say differently. It appears that William Lyttle was also an art lover, a writer at his lost hours, a man who would regularly help the homeless through various charities and non for profit organizations.

Pre production trailer. Filmed in London, Paris & Brussels.
Footage from “Le squelette joyeux” by Auguste&Louis Lumière
Audio from the book “The red rose Empire” by Iain Sinclair; ITN report; “Mole” by Barry Booth.

“The mole man of Hackney” is a project produced by The Gentlemen’s Club.