A GIRLS' school has been taken back in time - to play a starring role in one of TV's most popular shows.

Harrogate Ladies' College was transported back to the Swinging Sixties for the prime-time ITV drama The Royal.

Set designers turned it into the Fairlawn School for Girls for two episodes of the series, to be shown this month.

They recreated the 1960s by transforming rooms, which today contain two or three beds, into a long dormitory painted in a mushroom colour.

The production team brought in old-fashioned beds, dressing tables, and lockers - and described the college as "a perfect location" for filming the two episodes, called Loved and Lost.

Another part of the school was turned into a smart house, which, in the programme, will be portrayed as being in another area.

Production designer Duncan Howell said: "The exterior of the school was perfect for outdoor shots, but inside it is now far too modern for our purposes, so we had to take it back in time."

Headteacher Dr Margaret Hustler said: "Our pupils are used to living in a plush environment with soft furnishings, coffee facilities and Internet access, so it was quite a shock for them to see the school taken back 40 years.

"Most of their parents weren't even born then."