CHORLEY funnyman Dave Spikey has started filming on his new television comedy series with a little help from the Citizen .

Dave, who played Jerry 'the Saint' Sinclair in the hit Channel 4 series Phoenix Nights, will return to our screens as editor Gordon Garden -- named after his dad -- in his new self-penned series Dead Man Weds, based on the newspaper industry.

The six-part comedy mystery which has taken 10 years to write, is due to hit out screens on ITV1 in January.

And the Whittle-le-Woods comedian even took some time out to visit The Citizen offices, Pall Mall, Chorley.

He said: "I'd written the majority of the script and I just wanted to come and have a look at the office, and look at the things on the wall so I could make the office scenes look authentic.

"I really enjoyed it and it was nice to see everything I'd guessed about the industry was more or less true."

He is currently filming in the Peak District but will return to Chorley to record the office scenes in a Withnell mill.

He said: "I'm looking forward to filming in Chorley because it's where I live and also it'll only take me 10 minutes to get on set."

Dead Man Weds, which he named after a headline he saw in a local newspaper, is set in a small town newspaper office.

He is joined by St Helens comedian Johnny Vegas; Auf Weidersehen Pet star, Tim Healy; Dempsey and Makepeace actor Michael Brandon; and Keith Barron star of the 'eighties comedy Duty Free.

Dave said: "It's a great laugh on set. We're having a really great time and I hope this shows through in the series.

"There's a lot of people on set and we just enjoy ourselves.

"The show will appeal to all sorts of people and it's written in the same sort of style as Phoenix Nights and I'm looking forward to seeing it on television."

It is a new venture for the star, as it is the first time he has written his own script.

He said: "It's really nice to go in and watch on my days off and just observe what's happening.

"It's going to be tight getting it all edited by January when we only finish filming in November, but it'll be worth it."