BOLTON is being used as the set of an upcoming Netflix series.

Film crews and production trucks have been parked on the site of the former Moor Lane Bus Station this week.

The Bolton News can reveal that the filming is for upcoming thriller series - The Stranger.

Downton Abbey and Happy Valley actress Siobhan Finneran will take the leading role of DS Johanna Griffin in the eight-part series, which is based on the bestselling Harlan Coben novel of the same name.

It will reunite Ms Finneran with Red Production Company, who she worked with on Happy Valley.

The series will also star Jennifer Saunders in her first major dramatic role, Ant Man and the Wasp villain Hannah John-Kamen, Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Anthony Head and Oscar-nominated actor Stephen Rea.

Richard Armitage plays Adam Price, the series’ protagonist who finds himself tangled in a mysterious web of deception.

His steady life, two wonderful sons and watertight marriage all seem unassailable – until The Stranger reveals a shocking secret about his wife.

Siobhan Finneran’s punchy police detective, Johanna Griffin, finds her pragmatic approach to police work compromised when her investigation into the matter becomes deeply personal.

Ms Finneran said: “I am thrilled to be working with RED again - it’s been a brilliant 20-year relationship and I feel very lucky and blessed to have that with them. After the success and utter joy of working on Happy Valley with them, it’s great to now be involved in such a new and exciting project.”

Last month, camera crews for the show were also spotted in Manchester and Bury - filming beneath the Peel Memorial outside Bury Parish Church on The Rock.

The set was decked out like a lurid police crime scene centred around the grisly mocked-up corpse of an animal, complete with police tape, officers and a mass of fake blood.

A release date for the series is yet to be confirmed.