FILMING for a new BBC television series based on JK Rowling's detective novels has taken place in Wensleydale.

Actor Tom Burke, who stars as the private eye Cormoran Strike, was seen at Leyburn Filling Station along with others from the cast of the series of programmes known as the Galbraith novels: The Cuckoo’s Calling, The Silkworm and Career of Evil.

The first book in the Strike series was penned in 2013 by Harry Potter creator JK Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

It sold just 500 copies until it was became known that the world-famous children’s author had written it, prompting a huge spike in sales.

Actor Tom Burke’s character, Strike, an-ex military police investigator now a private detective, spent more than an hour filming a scene from the upcoming series which will eventually be screened on BBC1.

The three roads at the junction with Middleham Road where under traffic control and closed to traffic whilst the actual filming took place.

The film crew from the production company Bronte Film and Television complete with fifteen vehicles had based themselves at Tennants in Leyburn where they took over a large part of the car park; although it is not thought they filmed there.

The detective’s assistant Robin Ellacott, who in the book hails from Masham and is played by Holliday Grainger, was not seen nor was author JK Rowling.

Filming has also taken place in Barrow, Cumbria, and London, and is said to be on-going until April.