After a plethora of Inspector Morse dramas, Zahra Akkerhuys takes a look at a new BBC thriller based in and around Oxford . . .

To many TV viewers Inspector Morse is the only Oxford-based detective worth his salt. Oxford is very much his manor but a new BBC drama is set to widen the frame.

A Likeness in Stone, a chilling thriller, tells the tale of the hunt for the killer of Oxford undergraduate Helena Warner.

Her remains are discovered by divers searching a submerged house at the bottom of a reservoir a decade after her disappearance.

The former farmhouse was lost to the world when a valley was flooded to create the reservoir.

The two-part series, based on Julia Wallis Martin's novel, is set in and around Oxford and filming took place across the city last autumn.

Burser of Brasenose College Dr Robert Gasser liaises with film crews who want to film within the University precincts. He says: "Oxford provides a very unique backdrop for film crews. It is true that there is nowhere quite like Oxford in the world.

Film crews come to me asking for advice on possible locations in the city. I ask them to describe what they are looking for and what kind of atmosphere they are trying to create.

The University is not a film set and the crews must around normal term-time activities."

Viewers will be able to catch a glimpse of the city's dreaming spires in particular during the scenes when the leading characters drive through the city.

Oxford's skyline provides a sensational backdrop for murder stories.

The warm honey-coloured stone and the dramatic classical buildings create a theatrical atmosphere.

And the story of the disappearance of a beautiful young undergraduate, cut down in her prime, provides a gripping plot, although, perhaps inevitably, it prompts memories of murdered St Hilda's English student Rachael McLean.

Nineteen-year-old Rachael's boyfriend John Tanner murdered her in a state of frenzied jealousy and then hid her under the floorboards of her own bedroom, at her east Oxford home, in a desperate attempt to conceal what he had done.

In A Likeness of Stone, the boyfriend of the murdered girl is also the prime suspect in the frame.

Jonathan Firth, the younger brother of the dishy Pride and Prejudice star Colin Firth, plays the part of Stephen Gilmore, the boyfriend.

Police officers investigating the case also start to suspect that a friend of the dead girl Richard Kirschman, played by Andrew Lincoln, is involved in the murder.

And their suspicions are heightened when they see Richard unveil a life-size statue of Helena - her likeness carved in stone.

Filming in Oxford took place over several weeks and the film crew also shot several scenes in Hertfordshire. The reservoir in the story is based on Farmoor reservoir but the diving scenes were not filmed there as the location was not suitable for the required camera angles.

The cast of leading actors say they enjoyed the script because it kept them guessing as to who was the murderer.

Jonathan Firth's brother Colin captured the hearts of the nation's women when he played Mr Darcy and as a result Jonathan has been living in his shadow.

But he has a level headed attitude to the job he loves.

"I'm not the kind of person who gets impressed by celebrity, my own or other people's. It's not in my nature.

"Fame is something that happens in other people's heads and in the media. It's rather pointless to attach value to it at all.

"I like the job and I want to be appreciated for it, but what I do isn't rocket science."

Andrew Lincoln, 26, who shot to fame playing the role of Egg in This Life, says the drama will keep viewers guessing right to the end.

"The story involves lots of flashbacks as we gradually discover what happened ten years before, but it is so well written it just adds to the tension.

"When I first read the script I certainly didn't work out who the murderer was. It just keeps you right there, on the edge of your seat."

Andrew has, so far, resisted the temptation to move to America despite being courted by a Hollywood agent who tried to convince him the time was right to move to Tinsel Town.

"Maybe that's in the future but not now. I'm more than happy with the work here."

**A Likeness In Stone will be screened next Monday and Tuesday (Sept 11 and 12) on BBC1.