KnowHow NonProfit has upgraded its Millcaster Tales soap opera from a written to a "video" production in the hope of becoming "the Archers of the voluntary sector", with the aid of one of ITV’s drama writers.

Advertised as "a docu-drama of everyday folk in the voluntary and community sector", the relaunch markets Millcaster Tales as "now in video"; however it lacks the fundamental element of a video…moving pictures.

KnowHow NonProfit is a charity information service and as a registered charity itself was granted a Big Lottery Fund grant in 2008 to fund its website communications.

The charity employed the skills of ITV drama writer Steve Trafford to develop a screenplay for the new “animated” version of Millcaster Tales in an attempt to popularise the series after 14 Tales and 30 written episodes.

But instead of the expected animations, the first of the new productions, ‘Broken Biscuits’, features a series of still images, and the occassional zoom or pan.

But despite the curious "animation", the series has been taken up by the Guardian’s society pages and will be shown on a fortnightly basis.

KnowHow NonProfit chief executive Sahara Quli told Charity Technology Trust she hoped Millcaster Tales could become "the Archers of the voluntary sector".