LORD of the Rings star Ian McKellen is the latest actor to be filmed at the now closed High Royds Hospital in Menston.

The Paramount Pictures film about an inmate of a Victorian mental asylum and the wife of its superintendent has now finished filming and is in the editing stage.

Since its closure at the end of February this year, television and film crews have been lining up to use the former Victorian Psychiatric hospital as a location.

In August television company Premier Maxworks filmed the first series of hospital comedy No Angels at the hospital. The Channel Four series is expected to be screened in January and a second series is already planned with filming due to again take place at Menston.

Paramount Pictures has also used the listed Victorian buildings in their 200 acres of former parkland for the filming of Asylum.

Staring British actor Sir Ian McKellen, most recently seen as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the film tells the story about a sculptor and inmate at the asylum and his relationship with the wife of the superintendent of the hospital.

Yorkshire Television's Heartbeat is now filming scenes surrounding Aidensfield Police Station at High Royds. Police station scenes used to be filmed at the closed Otley Magistrates Court buildings, but YTV has had to find somewhere else following the conversion of the Courthouse Street buildings into an arts and community resource centre.

In addition BBC Hattrick Productions hope to film a new series set in a maternity hospital at Menston.

Ben Krauze, of site owners The Raven Group, which is planning to build more than 500 homes on the site, said: "It is proving a very popular location site because of the fantastic quality of the buildings and the environment."

He said programme makers of No Angels, a comedy staring Katy Wragg and Derek Riddell, had been very pleased with the location and wanted to book it for the next series.

He added they hoped to be able to come to an agreement with Hattrick Productions very shortly.