THE Tamworth Two, the pigs who made a daring escape from a Malmesbury abattoir six years ago, should be remembered with a statue in the town, a former mayor believes.

Butch and Sundance caught the hearts and imagination of the nation when they spent almost two weeks on the run in 1998 after escaping the chop at Newman's abattoir at Park Road, Malmesbury.

The story even grabbed the attention of the media in Japan and the USA.

The pigs were eventually bought by The Daily Mail from owner, street sweeper and smallholder, Arnaldo DiJulio.

They were taken to a rare breeds centre in Kent where they still reside.

The pigs' story, however, has been brought into the spotlight again in a comic BBC TV programme, The Legend of the Tamworth Two, shown on Monday.

Loosely based on the story, and filmed not in Malmesbury but in the Isle of Man, the comedy charted the pigs' bid for freedom from the moment they made their escape across the River Avon.

Former Malmesbury mayor Lesley Bennett is calling for a sculpture of the two pigs to be put up on the new housing estate where the abattoir once stood.

She said she would be the first to put £10 towards the scheme.

"Malmesbury was really put on the map and will forever be associated with the Tamworth Two," she said. "It would just be a bit of fun. People are always asking where did it happen?"

But Jacky Martin, who will become the town's deputy mayor next month, said she was disappointed by the TV programme.

She said: "I did not think it was a brilliant production.

"I think the BBC could have done better. Some of it was a bit tacky.

"It was a shame it was not filmed in Malmesbury.

"We have got some lovely countryside and they filmed it in a completely different area.

"At the time we had emails from as far away as Sweden saying people had heard of the story. If people now voluntarily give towards a sculpture I would not be against it."