OSCAR-nominated actress Kate Winslet paid a secret visit to an Oxford film set to see her new love - up and coming film director Jim Threapleton.

Extras working on The Jump - a new six-part ITV drama - watched in amazement as the Titanic star kissed and cuddled Threapleton, 24, during breaks in filming at the disused Oxford Prison, in New Road.

One told the Oxford Mail: "They were obviously very much in love and were making no effort to hide it.

"Nobody realised who she was at first. She didn't look like a film star - she had camouflage trousers and a stripey woolly hat on. She and Jim looked like love-struck teenagers.

"None of us could believe our eyes. Even though she had nothing to do with the show, she was walking around and chatting to everyone openly - she seemed very nice. "She came and met Jim during the lunch break and they kissed in front of us all. Then they disappeared into a corner together."

The couple met on the set of Kate's latest film, Hideous Kinky, in Morocco late last year. Threapleton has told colleagues on The Jump that he plans to accompany Kate, 22, to the Oscar ceremony, in Los Angeles, on March 23, where she is nominated for the best actress award.

It is the star's first serious relationship since her boyfriend Stephen Tredre died from cancer last year.

They were childhood sweethearts and Kate was left heartbroken when Tredre, an actor and writer, fell ill.

Threapleton, who has worked on the ITV drama London's Burning, is second assistant director on The Jump, an action-packed crime drama, which will be screened in the summer.

Cast and crew stayed at the Linton Lodge and Cotswold Lodge Hotels in north Oxford during a four-day shoot last week.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.