A VICAR has defended the use of his church as a location for a romantic television comedy.

Perfect Day, screened on Channel Five on Sunday night, was set in the village of Middleton Tyas, near Darlington.

It used several locations including Middleton Lodge and St Michael and All Angels Church, for a wedding scene.

However, some of the scenes raised eyebrows in the village, particularly the one depicting a 15-year-old girl trying to seduce the best man behind a curtain in the church.

Although no nudity was shown, one villager, who wishes to remain anonymous, felt the church should not have been used as a location for such subject matter.

He said: "People in the village are absolutely aghast, they can't understand how the church allowed this to be filmed.

"The church should not lend itself to this sort of publicity, it's virtually soft porn."

However, the Reverend Graham Smith said he felt the television programme, which starred former Casualty and Waking The Dead actress Claire Goose, had been of great benefit to the local economy and said he did not understand the fuss that was being made.

Mr Smith, who was seen in the background of one of the scenes, said all the villagers he had spoken to had enjoyed the film company's visit.

He said: "It was a very light-hearted film.

"The only bit that could be considered a sex scene in the church was when the best man was dragged behind the curtain, but he very rightly and properly refused.

"The church or Middleton Tyas were not mentioned in the credits, but in many respects I'm sorry it wasn't as it showed Middleton Tyas and the church in a very good light and made it look beautiful.

"It might have brought more people in."

Mr Smith said the film company treated the church very respectfully and the Grade I Listed church had also received a fee, believed to be four-figure sum, for its use as a location.

He added: "However, that's not why we did it, we allowed the church to be used before they offered us the fee.

"The good Christian thing is to help people and this helped the local economy, made the church look beautiful and it gained financially from it as well.

"I'm disappointed people couldn't have took these complaints to me."

* We'd like to hear your views. Should the church have been allowed to be used in such circumstances. Write to: Hear All Sides, The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington, DL1 1NF. Please limit your letter to no more than 250 words.