EX-Coronation Street star Sarah Lancashire was back in the TV spotlight as BBC film crews took over Marsden to film a new series.

Villagers woke up yesterday to BBC trucks all over Peel Street as the national broadcaster began work on its latest romantic comedy, Antony and Cleopatra.

A stunning cast has been assembled for the series, set to air on BBC1, including acting royalty Derek Jacobi and former Corrie star Anne Reid, who played Ken Barlow’s first wife in the 1960s and went on to star in Dinner Ladies and most recently ITV supernatural drama Marchlands.

Other big names cast in the show are Nicola Walker, who played Ruth in BBC spy drama Spooks, comic and Skins actress Ronni Ancona, Life on Mars’ star Dean Andrews and Tony Gardner, who has featured in My Parents are Aliens and Fresh Meat.

Yesterday morning Sarah Lancashire was seen in the village, filming with up and coming teenage actor Josh Bolt, who recently starred in ITV drama Just Henry.

It is a return to the Colne Valley for her. From 1997 to 1999 she played Ruth Goddard in the ITV nursing drama Where The Heart Is, set in the fictional town of Skelthwaite – Slaithwaite in real life – which also featured Marsden as a location.

The latest filming comes just a few weeks after Sir David Jason and Harry Potter star Mark Williams filmed a pilot for a BBC sitcom called Pearly Gates in Meltham and Armitage Bridge.

The BBC said Antony and Cleopatra was set to be a six part drama telling the tale of would-be childhood sweethearts Alan (Jacobi) and Celia (Reid) who are reunited after 60 years.

As their lives collide for a second time, Alan and Celia lament over what might have been as they take us on a life-affirming journey of what can still happen. Writer and creator, Sally Wainwright, said: “I can’t remember being this excited about writing a TV series.

“It’s everything good; uplifting, life-affirming, funny. It’s a joy to write.

“I’m bowled over by the stunning cast we’ve assembled, and thrilled to be working with (producers) Nicola, Karen and (director) Euros again.”

Executive producer, Nicola Shindler, added: “I am delighted to be working with Sally again on such glorious scripts and with such a great cast.

This is going to look and feel like a timeless love story in a very modern setting.”

A date for the series has yet to be confirmed.

The producer is Karen Lewis (Exile; Unforgiven) and the director is Euros Lyn (Black Mirror; Sherlock).