A NEW comedy could start filming at a North Yorkshire stately home next year.

Number One Yorkshire follows the misadventures of an American butler at a Yorkshire stately home in 1901, and is set to film at Carlton Towers, near Selby.

The film has been described as Downton Abbey with laughs, and is in development by Dr Bink’s Films, which has offices in Hampshire and California.

A national newspaper reported this weekend that filming at the stately home of Lord Gerald Fitzalan-Howard, younger brother of the Duke of Norfolk, the project had been linked with Hollywood director and producer Jon Turteltaub, whose films include National Treasure with Nicolas Cage and Last Vegas with Robert De Niro and Morgan Freeman.

The film's synopsis states: "A cunning butler is hired by a Victorian coal baron to elevate his status amongst his avaricious friends but the plan turns into a disaster, the English throne is threatened and the British Empire is changed forever."

Nicholas Sercombe, who wrote the script, said it would feature disgraced aristocrats, shooting parties and a coal baron from new money who is keen for ennoblement, and take place in the days leading up to the death of Queen Victoria.

He told The Sunday Times: "The film is more upstairs than down. The butler is the architect of the entire story. Although he was born in England, he lived in America since the age of 18 or 19. It's a displacement comedy with a little bit of Gosford Park set over three days in 1901."