FILMING has begun in Keighley for a major new television drama about one of the most notorious political assassination conspiracies in England's history.

"Gunpowder" a new three-part television drama being produced for BBC One by the company Kudos is being shot at Dalton Mills.

It tells the story of the infamous attempt to blow up the House of Lords and kill King James I of England in 1605.

A large, elaborate set replicating a building from the period has been constructed immediately behind Dalton Mills.

At the end of last month the BBC confirmed further casting for Gunpowder, with Edward Holcroft, Shaun Dooley, and Tom Cullen among those joining Kit Harington, Peter Mullan, Mark Gatiss and Liv Tyler.

Harington has been a particularly prominent presence on the world's television screens recently with his starring role as Jon Snow in the hugely successful, fantasy series Game of Thrones.

In Gunpowder he will star as Robert Catesby – the 30-year-old Warwickshire gentleman who was the driving force behind the assassination plot – alongside Peter Mullan as Father Garnet, Mark Gatiss as the Spymaster Robert Cecil, and Liv Tyler as Ann Vaux.

Robert Emms, Derek Riddell, Sian Webber, David Bamber, Kevin Eldon and Pedro Casablanc are also confirmed to appear in the series.

They are joined by Edward Holcroft as Thomas Wintour, Catesby’s friend and co-conspirator, with Shaun Dooley as Sir William Wade, lieutenant of The Tower and Cecil’s right-hand man.

Tom Cullen, from Downton Abbey, will take on the role of Guy Fawkes.

Robert Emms, who has previously appeared in the critically acclaimed Calderdale-based crime series Happy Valley, will play Father John Gerard, the firebrand young priest who joins with the plotters.

Derek Riddell is King James I, the subject of the plot itself.

Sian Webber, from EastEnders, plays the devout and fearless Lady Dorothy Dibdale, with David Bamber appearing as Cecil’s great rival The Earl of Northumberland, and Kevin Eldon as Sir Joseph Hawksworth, Justice of the Peace.

Spanish actor Pedro Casablanc will take on the role of the Constable of Castile.

Gunpowder is only the latest in a series of high-profile films and television dramas to be shot in Keighley in recent years.

The town has also hosted production teams for the films The Limehouse Golem and Testament of Youth, the two-part television drama The Great Train Robbery, and crime series The Peaky Blinders.