FORMER Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart was rushed to hospital after suffering chronic chest pains during a film shoot.

The Mirfield-born actor, 64, halted work on a new science fiction TV show when he complained of feeling unwell.

A crew member drove him to accident and emergency at Manchester Royal Infirmary where doctors gave him an electrocardiogram test.

He returned to the set three hours later after being given the all-clear.

Stewart, who is chancellor of Huddersfield University, is in the region filming Eleventh Hour for Granada TV.

He had an operation in Los Angeles last year to widen an artery.

A spokeswoman for Granada said: "Patrick is absolutely fine and is back on set working."

The four-parter Eleventh Hour - costing £4.5m to film - is due to air at the end of the year.

Stewart plays science expert Professor Alan Hood, often called in by the Government to tackle disasters caused by modern science.

It's the first time he's worked for Granada since playing a fireman in Coronation Street 38 years ago, when he attended a blaze at Len Fairclough's house in January 1967.