Richard Coles' delight at bringing TV crime drama home

Crime writer Reverend Richard Coles, who describes himself as a "Midlander to my very core", is "delighted" a TV adaptation of his stories has been filmed in the West Midlands.

Murder before Evensong is based on his novel of the same name and was filmed in Bridgnorth and Worfield in Shropshire, as well as in Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Wolverhampton.

Coles said he had been to Bridgnorth a couple of times before it was chosen as a location and thought it was a "fantastic town" and would make a "great set" for a drama.

The Murder before Evensong series launches at 21:00 BST on 5 on Tuesday and is based on the first in the Canon Clement Mysteries, starring Matthew Lewis.

Coles is a supporter of independent book stores and said he enjoyed visiting Bridgnorth, "partly because of Booka Bridgnorth, which is a wonderful bookshop there".

He said: "It's a very pretty town and it's quite an unusual town and I thought it would make a great set, the way it sort of hangs together where you have an upper part of town and a lower part of town."

The town, with its timber-framed houses is used for a number of locations in the series and Coles said: "Not only does it look stunning, but its got that thing that small towns have really, it's got that community that pulse that heartbeat, lots of independent shops.

"If you think of pretty little English villages, people tend to go to the Cotswolds, but there's an awful lot happening in the West Midlands."

Maggie Rogers, from The Travel Wallet in Bridgnorth, said her shop was one of the locations used and she described the production crew being "like a SWAT team".

Of the series, which is set in the 1980s, she said: "All these huge tall people seemed to come in here and they completely stripped anything that was current."

However, she said the town had embraced the filming and "there was a lovely buzz around the town".

Sally Themans, from Love Bridgnorth, which promotes the town, said: "We hope that it'll bring tourists, it will give the businesses a shot in the arm that they really need and put Bridgnorth on the map again."

Viewers might spot other locations, including Leamington Spa, Offchurch and Welford-on-Avon in Warwickshire; Dudmaston Hall, Shropshire; Chillington Hall in Staffordshire; Claverley in Shropshire; and the former Express and Star headquarters in Wolverhampton.

But the village of Champton and the church at the heart of the story was largely filmed in the village of Worfield, not far from Bridgnorth.

Reverend Jeannetta Stokes, who has been the real-life vicar at St Peter's in Worfield for 15 years, said villagers were apprehensive at first.

She said that during filming there had been an agreement the church could still be used for Sunday worship, but "the rest of the time there were security guards on the door".

Even on Sundays, there was no access to the back rooms or side aisles, to keep the filming a secret.

But she said the location crew had been "very good" and it had been "exciting times for the village".

Murder Before Evensong is a six-part series which also stars Amanda Redman, Amit Shah and Adam James.

It tells the story of Rector of Champton, Canon Daniel Clement who finds himself caught up in a murder case when the dead body of one of his parishioners is discovered at the church.

As Clement investigates, he begins to receive threats and has to fight to keep the community together.