Residents today branded the filming of a new docu-drama in Undercliffe cemetery as tasteless.

Yorkshire Television crews set up cameras and floodlights in the cemetery from 5pm and filmed late into the evening, much to the disgust of residents.

The drama documentary is about family GP Harold Shipman, who is serving life for killing 15 of his patients after being convicted of murder at Preston Crown Court in January 2000. Other patient deaths linked to the killer number almost 200.

While filming was going on, many residents stopped to ask police - who guarded the cemetery gates in Otley Road - whether a body was being exhumed or a crime had taken place.

Councillor Robert Sowman (Lab, Undercliffe) said he knew nothing about the filming, but said the cemetery trustees would have been consulted about its use.

"I don't think it is in very good taste," he said. "Unless there is a reason relevant to the case why they should they film there. I don't see specific grounds for doing anything in a cemetery which is still in use.''

A resident, who asked not to be named, said he thought it was in bad taste to film such a thing late at night in a cemetery where families of local people were buried.

Another man was concerned that his mother's grave was being tampered with.

"My mother is buried in there and is supposed to be at rest," he said.

Colin Clark, a trustee of the cemetery, said that filming in the cemetery was common. "Over the past 30 years we have had various contracts drawn up between ourselves and different television and film companies.

"The cemetery has a long tradition with film and television productions as the location provides a graphic and dramatic backdrop. Scenes from the 1960s film Billy Liar, the drama Band of Gold, and the soap Brookside have all been filmed at Undercliffe cemetery."

The trustee also defended the fees charged for its use.

"The facility fee for using the cemetery is an important part of our income as Bradford Council has stopped our grant. The money helps us, a charity, to keep up our good work in the cemetery."

The programme will be shown as a one-off later in the year. It stars James Bolam, as Shipman, and James Hazeldine.

Revelation about the docu-drama also caused outrage in Hyde, Greater Manchester, where Shipman lived and worked.