YORK is providing the backdrop for another TV costume drama after film crews moved in to Shambles yesterday evening.

The historic cobbled street and also Chapter House Street are to be used for scenes in Knifeman, starring Tom Hollander, who played a vicar in the hit BBC sitcom Rev and recently played the poet Dylan Thomas in another TV drama.

He plays John Tattersal, who runs an unlicensed operating theatre at his home in 18th century London and harvests human organs for his brother Julian, a doctor.

Joanna Page, who played Stacey in the popular BBC romcom Gavin & Stacey, also features in the drama.

The pilot show is being produced by AMC, the US production company behind series such as Mad Men, about a 1960s advertising agency, and Breaking Bad, about a teacher turned drug dealer.

The location manager for the latest production, Matt Bowden, who is from York and helped bring filming for the BBC’s Christmas 2013 drama Death Comes To Pemberley to the city, has said it is becoming a “go-to location” for high-quality period dramas, although this was only possible with the support and understanding of residents and businesses.