Former EastEnders bad boy Martin Kemp was in Bradford building on his reputation as a classic screen villain this week.

Audiences came to love him as nightclub-owning murderer Steve Owen during his time on the top BBC soap.

And fans will be able to catch his smouldering, but sinister, looks on a new Yorkshire Television drama currently being filmed in Bradford.

Set at the start of World War One, The Brides in the Bath tells the gruesome true story of serial killer George Joseph Smith, played by Martin Kemp.

On the cusp of World War One, Smith, under various pseudonyms, married three women all of whom had some degree of wealth but were considered to be left on the shelf.

But they were all doomed to be drowned by their charming but deadly husband. The scenes for Smith's murder trial were being filmed in the historic City Hall court room this week.

David Reynolds, executive producer of the YTV drama, said the show would be a real thriller.

"It's great to have Martin Kemp working with Yorkshire Television for the first time," he said. "He's had an acting history of killing his leading ladies. In The Brides in the Bath he'll kill several."

The chilling true crime tale is written by Taggart creator Glenn Chandler.

It also features Richard Griffiths, Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter films, as Smith's defence lawyer, and Tracey Wilkinson who has appeared in ITV's Bad Girls.

A YTV spokesman said City Hall's former courtroom provided the ideal setting for the climatic trial.

"It's a court room with historic value and it's just a fantastic space," he said.

"It has a timeless feel to it, it could be any time over the last hundred or so years."

He said that Martin, who rose to success during the 1980s with pop group Spandau Ballet, agreed to the part as soon as he saw the script.

"It was a chance for him to play someone different," he said.

"This time he's intentionally killing people. You could argue that in the past he's been an anti-hero rather than a villain."

He added that Kemp, who also played one of the notorious Kray twins in the film of their life, will be upping the evil-ante with his next role when he hopes to play the part of Dracula.