WELL-KNOWN FACES from the world of television and cinema have descended on Winchester again to film a new TV series.

Scenes for the new BBC comedy Decline and Fall, starring Jack Whitehall and Eva Longoria, are being filmed in Winchester.

Comedian Whitehall was spotted on set yesterday as filming began in and around Winchester College for the series, which also stars David Suchet.

However, fans hoping to get a glimpse of Desperate Housewives star Longoria are set to be disappointed as she returned to the United States after filming in Cardiff was completed earlier this month.

In Decline and Fall, Whitehall plays Paul Pennyfeather, a student who is expelled from Oxford University and takes a job at an obscure public school in Wales.

While there he is seduced by Margot Beste-Chetwynde, played by Longoria, the mother of one of his pupils.

It will be the first televisual adaption of Evelyn Waugh’s novel, with the three-part series set to air on BBC Two later this year.

Scenes for the production are being filmed in College Street, St Lawrence in the Square and inside Winchester College.

The Chronicle arrived at the set before filming began yesterday evening and saw double yellow lines being painted over.

Filming was expected to continue today.

A spokesman for Winchester College said: “It is very exciting. Everyone loves it because it is a little bit different and because Winchester is quiet and private, and they to do it without having hordes of people around.”

It is just the latest in a long line of films and television programmes that have been shot in the city.

Earlier this year part of the city was transformed into bomb-hit Blitz streets for the filming of The Crown, the £100m Netflix drama telling the story of the early days of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.

Hollywood A-listers Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman filmed scenes for the musical Les Misérables in 2012 while it has also hosted filming for The Da Vinci Code, Pride and Prejudice and Children of Men.