A NORTH-East castle is one of the main locations in a new television series.

Raby Castle, near Staindrop, County Durham, has been chosen as the backdrop in the BBC's production of Elizabeth - The Virgin Queen, which begins tomorrow.

The castle doubles as the Palace of Whitehall in the series, which explores the life of the English queen and stars Anne-Marie Duff, Tara Fitzgerald, and Dexter Fletcher.

A crew spent five days last May filming for the series and a number of locations in the castle were used, including the Neville Gateway and the castle ponds, which were set up to look like the River Thames.

One of the halls was filmed as a laundry room.

Catherine Turnbull, Raby Castle's marketing supervisor, said: "It was very hard work, but really interesting for the staff to see something different.

"They started at 6am and worked right the way through to the early hours."

It is not the first time the castle has been used in a film about Queen Elizabeth. It was also used in the 1998 production of Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett and Eric Cantona.

Other North-East castles used in the series include Alnwick, Bamburgh, Chillingham and Warkworth.

Producer Paul Rutman said: "We had a big dilemma about whether to shoot this project abroad or remain here in England.

"We felt it essential to capture not simply the accuracy of Tudor buildings, but the distinctive quality of the English landscape.