Lacock filming starts on Monday

9:25am Saturday 21st April 2007

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FILMING for the BBC's production of the Cranford Chronicles, starring Judi Dench, starts on Monday and the village of Lacock has been transformed for the cameras.

Set construction teams have turned The Red Lion pub in High Street into Johnson's Stores, where Dame Judi's character Miss Matty Jenkyns is expected to shop for gifts for her family. The exterior of the pub is almost unrecognisable, with its handsome new ground floor fascia painted dark grey.

High Street and Church Street will be closed from Monday to Friday to allow filming to take place, with anyone breaching the closure rule risking a fine of £1,000.

The BBC film weaves together three different Elizabeth Gaskell novels to create a comic drama about the course of ordinary lives in a small town in Cheshire during 1842.

Speaking about the filming process, Dame Judi said: "I am so excited to be doing Cranford Chronicles. A summer of fun to look forward to."

Each household in Lacock has received £100 for the inconvenience of having a major filming project take place on their doorstep.

Villagers also had a chance to apply for jobs as extras after the tenants' association negotiated a deal with the producers. Leo Stevens, of Middle Street, Lacock, is one of those joining the cast. The 72-year-old former master mariner, who is chairman of the tenants' association, said: "I am glad that so many locals are taking part.

"It means that when filming takes place here we are a part of it instead of people just taking over the place. It's nothing new to us, seeing filming. All sorts of films have been done here."