SHOPPERS in the area watched as television star Chris Barrie was repeatedly assaulted by an old lady wielding a handbag on Friday afternoon.

Fortunately it was all part of the plot as Chris was filming for his new six part sitcom "A Prince Among Men".

The comedy actor shot to stardom in the hit sitcoms "Red Dwarf", where he played space coward Arnold Rimmer, and "The Brittas Empire" as over-officious leisure centre manager Gordon Brittas.

In his new role he plays an ex-international footballer and Middlewich was one of several local locations chosen for filming.

The cameras were also rolling for scenes shot in Lach Dennis, Northwich and Knutsford during last week.

Chris, who was responsible for many of the voices in Spitting Image, broke off from his handbag battering to speak exclusively to the Guardian.

He said: "In the new series, I play Gary Prince, an ex-international footballer living in Cheshire, which is why we chose Middlewich as one of the locations.

"It's due to be broadcast in July and so far it's been great fun to do. I'm working with the same production team that did The Brittas Empire so we know each other and the filming is going well."

Fans will see him sporting a new hairstyle for A Prince Among Men with a curly perm replacing his Rimmer and Brittas short back and sides.

And Chris has good news for fans mourning his departure from his most successful series.

He said: "I could only do half of the last series of Red Dwarf because of scheduling problems but I will be back as Rimmer for the next one which is the eighth.

"There are no plans for another series of The Brittas Empire at the moment but we could get together to do a Christmas special or something like that."

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