HATFIELD town centre was turned into a film set representing a recently evacuated town, with characters walking deserted streets.

Residents watched as new BBC drama The Fades, which included a scene with a woman having a gun pointed at her head, was filmed among the boarded up shops and scattered rubbish.

Hatfield councillor Colin Croft, who had been in the town centre, said he was shocked Hatfield had been used.

“If the BBC is classing Hatfield as a deserted town, it’s terrible,” he said

“If you saw it with your own eyes you would’ve been flabbergasted.

“They were showing shops all boarded up and rubbish everywhere.

“It doesn’t portray Hatfield in a good light.”

In a letter to neighbours, location manager Jethro Ensor said: “In the scenes we will see a group of our hero characters pass through the centre of a recently-evacuated town. As they walk through the deserted streets they encounter the Fades.

“In the course of the action a character produces a gun and fires a shot which tragically kills one of the characters.”

Speaking later to the WHT Mr Ensor said choosing Hatfield for Sunday’s filming was not meant to offend the town or residents.

He said: “It wasn’t Hatfield, we needed a high street that could be anywhere in England, we’ve already filmed in Hemel Hempstead and Watford.

“We needed to be confident you couldn’t see cars moving, and the architecture was great for us.

“Our characters go thorough the walkway and out to the square, it’s like a High Noon moment and Hatfield gives us that.”