OXFORD locations including the Bodleian Library are among stars of the screen in a new fantasy drama being shown on Sky.

Adapted from Deborah Harkness’ bestselling novel, A Discovery of Witches is a love story set in today’s world, but one which humans have to share with witches, vampires and daemons.

The first episode was shown on Sky One on Friday and there are seven more in the series.

Filming took place in Oxford and in South Wales and Venice.

Teresa Palmer plays brilliant academic and historian Diana Bishop, a reluctant witch denying her heritage.

The discovery of a manuscript in the Bodleian throws her into the heart of a dangerous mystery and into the path of enigmatic geneticist Matthew Clairmont, played by Matthew Goode, an ancient vampire hiding dark family secrets.

Ms Palmer said: “When I first walked into the Bodleian Library set it took my breath away.

“The attention to detail that our designer James North has is unlike anything I’ve ever seen on a

production I have been on. Gosh, it makes my job so much easier because I really believe I am in the library.”

Matthew Goode, spotted on location at Folly Bridge, added: “I met Jane Tranter, who is a force of nature.

“I have never met anyone do a better take on a book that is 750 pages in absolute detail.

“By the end of that meeting I wanted to be a part of

it because it sounded like an incredible world to inhabit. I’d never played a vampire before and there is a kind of a dark mythology to it. The whole point

of A Discovery of Witches was that it was going to turn that on its head, it’s more about his involvement with this human woman. So, it has a love story

and notions about equality. It has a lot to say about the politics of our time.”

Made by Bad Wolf Productions, A Discovery of Witches has been adapted for screen by writer Kate

Brooke, who is also an executive producer. The

co-founders of Bad Wolf, Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner, and Lachlan MacKinnon are executive

producers along with Deborah Harkness. Juan Carlos Medina is the director.

Filming took place in South Wales and on location in Oxford and Venice.

The series is based on the first book of Ms Harkness’s All Souls trilogy, A Discovery of Witches, which was published in 2011.

The sequels are Shadow of Night and The Book of Life, all published by Headline.

Bad Wolf is also making a TV series of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, which will be shown on the BBC, starring Dafne Keen and James McAvoy. It is understood that a second series has already been commissioned.