THE Roman invasion which swamped a village overnight was a very civilised affair - smoothly done, in fact.

A rabble of red-cloaked military men which greeted the people of Newsham, near Richmond, North Yorkshire, when they woke yesterday morning were, literally, only there for the beer.

Brewers Tetley's - famous for their Smoothly Does It campaign - had recruited 120 costumed centurions from all over the country to film their latest ad on the Ministry of Defence's Feldom Ranges, a mile south of the village.

Recruited from re-enactment groups and filming agencies, the team of extras arrived overnight for two days of filming, lining the narrow village streets with 70 cars and even a London taxi.

The village hall in Newsham had been commissioned as a temporary changing room and outside, as they waited to be bussed to the fell, the lightweight soldier's tunics offered little protection from the biting wind.

Previous ads have been filmed in more exotic places, such as Antigua and Hong Kong. But location manager Andrew Bainbridge, who lives in nearby Middleton Tyas, rates the spectacular scenery just as highly.

Neither he nor anyone else was saying what was happening on the set and back at head office, Tetley's stayed tight-lipped about the whole production, although a Roman commander and a catapult-maker were seen having lunch in a specially-fitted double-decker parked outside the village pub.

For Mr Bainbridge, organising transport and food for the cast was a military operation in itself.

Recent heavy rain meant he had to change his plans at the last minute and he could only warn Newsham residents of the invasion on Thursday night.

He said: "I had originally intended that all the food vans, extras' cars and everything else would be up on the fell, but it was just too wet. I had acres of ground protection track but it was impossible. It is a huge operation to set everything up for 250 people and it meant they all were descending on the village, which isn't what we originally expected.

"But everybody has been marvellous. We always get a warm welcome in the North. I'd rather film here than in the South any day, and so would the crew."

Watching residents couldn't remember anything like it since Auf Weidersehn, Pet was filmed at nearby Barningham.

Kath Walker said: "It is exciting. It doesn't happen very often. Some of the local men had been given work helping out with lifting jobs and we've all made them welcome."

Tetley's expects the commercial to be screened early next year.