THE Oxford Times will be featured in the new TV series, Inspector Lewis, which is due to be screened early next year.

Filming of the new detective show, a spin-off from the highly successful Inspector Morse programmes, began in Oxford last weekend with scenes being shot in and near the Ashmolean Museum.

The Oxford Times journalists were asked to mock up a front page story about a murder on a river bank.

Chris Burt, producer, said: "The pilot went out last year and was watched by 11m people, making it ITV's top show.

"We are now filming three more episodes, Saturday's shoot being the first of the three. We are due to finish shooting at the end of November and the programmes are then due to be shown next spring."

About 40 crew were involved in the shoot and another 20 people, most of them Oxford residents, were used as extras.

Crews working on the ITV drama will be filming at various locations around the city over the next three weeks.

The decision to resurrect the character came four years after Morse's on-screen death in The Remorseful Day, during which Lewis - played by Kevin Whately - took the lead in an investigation into a year-old murder as Morse's health deteriorated.

It was 20 years ago that Mr Whately first appeared alongside John Thaw, who played his boss Inspector Morse, in The Dead of Jericho.

Oxford author Colin Dexter, creator of Inspector Morse, said he was pleased that Morse's legacy was set to continue and was confident that the new series would be enjoyed by everyone.

He said: "It is an awfully difficult decision to take, whether you think it is possible or even advisable to resurrect a series.

"But this one has got the continuity, with Kevin Whately there, and you have still got Oxford.

"We all miss John Thaw desperately, but Kevin is now an inspector with a new sergeant and they do seem to get on well together."