the old village at South Hallsands is closed off to the public, although South Hams District Council has built a viewing platform, which is accessed from the track below Prospect House Apartments (formerly Trout's Hotel). Two houses remained intact and were used as holiday homes. In May 2012, the access road, viewing platform and the two houses were affected by a 200 tonne landslide, leading to the houses being evacuated and the affected area cordoned off. The beach at North Hallsands (also known as "Greenstraight") is the only one at Hallsands. The beach below the old village no longer exists, having been removed by the previous dredging and repeated storms. In 2016 the beach at North Hallsands was reported to have been washed away by storms, leaving only a peat underlay which contains the remnants of a petrified forest. However, this is part of a regular natural cycle which occurs every few years, as are the more frequent episodes where the shingle from North Hallsands is removed by the scouring action of the local sea currents, deposited at other parts of the bay and then eventually returned by the same process. There are no plans to restore the sea defences at North Hallsands or protect the few houses at possible risk as South Hams Council has had a policy of no intervention since 2002. In literature, music, film and online art projects In 1903, English writer John Masefield published "Ballads", a collection of poems including "Hall Sands". The introductory part of the poem alerted that "the land in which the village stands is beginning to slip and settle". The 1964 film The System directed by Michael Winner, starring Oliver Reed and Jane Merrow filmed scenes with the two actors at the ruins. In 1993, the poet William Oxley published 'The Hallsands Tragedy', a series of poems about Hallsands and its fate. In 2002, dramatist Julian Garner wrote the play Silent Engine set in the ruins of Hallsands about a couple whose marriage is as wrecked as the village following the death of their young child. It was presented on a short tour and at the Edinburgh Festival by Pentabus Theatre Company performed by Cathy Owen and Robin Pirongs. A second production was staged at Cheltenham Playhouse by Ad Hoc Theatre Co in May 2010 performed by Rachel Prudden and Paul Scott. In 2003 BBC Radio 4 first broadcast the play,