Actor comes to town (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Actor comes to town

4:15pm Tuesday 11th April 2006 in Devizes By Lewis Cowen

ACTOR John Nettles braved the crowds at Devizes market last week to film a sequence for a television series about one of his idols, former Poet Laureate John Betjeman.

Mr Nettles, star of the 1980s series Bergerac and more recently Midsomer Murders, was recording a sequence for the seven-part series marking the centenary of Sir John's birth.

Director John Lovelace, who previously worked with Mr Nettles on the TV programme Animal Passions, said the series would follow in the footsteps of the TV films that Sir John made about West Country towns in the 1960s, including Devizes.

Mr Nettles has been a Betjeman enthusiast ever since being asked to read one of his poems by Sir Harry Secombe on the religious programme Highway many years ago.

He said: "I can't remember the name of the poem, but it's about Christmas and it contains the lines, "and is it true? And is it true?" It is simple, direct and moving and I fell in love with Sir John's poetry after that."

Although a West Countryman by birth, it was Mr Nettles' first visit to Devizes.

He said: "It's a lovely town. I especially love the market square but it is almost impossible to find a parking space!"

Mr Nettles was filmed in St James' Church and around the Shambles market hall, which is always crowded on market day.

Local artist David Inshaw has also been interviewed. The series is due to be broadcast on ITV1 in July.