WARRINGTON Collegiate has been chosen as one of the filming locations for an upcoming comedy drama starring Max Beesley, Michelle Keegan, Jason Manford and Mackenzie Crook.

The college will play a part in BAFTA and Emmy award-winner Danny Brocklehurst's Ordinary Lies which is set in Warrington.

But the Winwick Road campus will be unrecognisable after the business school was transformed into a police station reception and the learning resource centre became a missing persons unit for the day.

Bridget Floyd, director of facilities and operations at Warrington Collegiate, said: "It was an incredibly efficient operation with the crew arriving to set up the locations, then the cast arriving and quickly being transformed into their characters for the shots.

"The make-over was so good I don’t think I’d know it was the college unless I’d seen it for myself. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the drama when it’s screened on BBC One in 2015.”

Ordinary Lies is about how a little white lie can spiral out of control and features a motley crew of colleagues who work together in a car showroom. It is set at John Stuart Warrington Car Superstore in Orford Lane.

The drama is being produced by Red Production Company, the creators of Happy Valley and Last Tango In Halifax, and directed by John McKay, who worked on Life on Mars, and Juliet May, who filmed episodes of Call the Midwife.

Producer Tom Sherry, who also works on Scott and Bailey, added: "Being able to use community facilities like Warrington Collegiate is a great example of what Warrington has to offer in terms of a variety of flexible filming locations.

"We used the building for three separate locations making our day really efficient."

The stars of Ordinary Lies have been spotted regularly in Warrington over the last few weeks.

The cast were seen at The Rams Head in Grappenhall, Max Beesley was happy to chat to fans in Houghton Street while Jason Manford tweeted about filming at the Church of the Ascension in Woolston.

DAVID MORGAN