An award-winning Otley drinking hole has become a hive of activity following a visit by two celebrities.

The Bowling Green, Bondgate, has been inundated with calls after Jonathan Ross's wife Jane Goldman and Never Mind The Buzzcocks's star Sean Hughes were spotted filming a murder-mystery there.

A film crew swooped on the pub a few weeks ago for a three-day filming session in Otley for the forthcoming Channel Four production, Crime Team.

National newspapers have pounced on the pub after rumours of a relation between the two stars - but landlord Trevor Wallis has quashed these claims.

He said: "I didn't know who they were at first. It was very gratifying to have two celebrities dine here. "They came with a film crew of 15 people, they were filming in the pub and they had a meal, I

remember Sean had a vegetarian lasagne.

"We have a lot of groups using the pub to film in, in the past Chumbawumba have used it and Paradise Lost.

"I wasn't paying much attention to them, but they were just working together nothing else. We have had a few calls from the media trying to find out any gossip, but there is nothing to tell."

The pair were given three days in the town in which to solve a grisly murder which took place in the area in 1807, using only the forensic tools available at the time.

It is believed the murder involved witchcraft and poisoning.

Producer of Crime Team Tom Whitter said: "Crime Team is an eight part history series. Each week there is an investigation into a murder.

"The fun for the team is that they do not know anything about the murder and they have three days to crack it from the evidence the police had at the time.

"They might have to use old finger print techniques or retrace the killer's steps. We use a team of two celebrities each week.

"All the crimes had a result and conviction and at the end they will find out if they guessed the right person."

The series is due to commence on Monday, September 9, on Channel Four at 8pm.

The crew remained tight-lipped about the murder in order to keep an element of surprise but a local book, titled Curious Tales of Old West Yorkshire, by Marie Campbell, reveals it could have been based on a disreputable church warden.

Con artist Joe Brown lost his job at a church due to fraud and took up a new profession of deception.

He tricked people into giving him their money by pretending he was a deaf and dumb fortune teller and his friend interpreted his actions. He was finally

apprehended and executed in York in 1810 for poisoning a Leeds woman.