HEREFORDSHIRE'S Deliverance minister, Merrily Watkins, already known to readers the world over, is set to become a TV hit after the second episode of Midwinter of the Spirit set spines shivering again this week.

National newspapers have given a firm thumbs up to ITV's three-part serial, based on county author Phil Rickman's much-read series featuring the cleric, a single mother with special training in exorcism.

Not only is the early success of the drama seen as a boost for tourism in the county, it is a tremendous coup for the author, who lives with his wife, Carol in the Golden Valley.

Locations such as the villages of Weobley and Dilwyn feature strongly, though there has been some disappointment among traders in Hereford's Church Street as only exterior footage of the cathedral is seen.

There have been claims that a five-figure sum could have been paid for filming inside the building, but film crews switched instead to Chester cathedral.

The author said he understood that traders were "furious" at a decision not to allow TV cameras inside the cathedral.

Mr Rickman felt that some members of the Dean and Chapter were "uncomfortable" about links with exorcism being enacted in the cathedral, though he explained that the "good guys do win in the end".

Reviewers have described the series as "gripping", and others have questioned why TV programme-makers have waited so long to put Mr Rickman's stories on to the small screen. The author admitted he was "very impressed" with Anna Maxwell-Martin who took the central role. "She was even better than the Merrily in my head," he said this week.

The character was not drawn from any real person, he told the Hereford Times. "I needed a female vicar to stand up the plot of The Wine of Angels, and liked her so much I wanted to bring her back," he added. "Hence, Midwinter and the rest."

As no other crime series has followed the work of a Church of England exorcist before, he did not take inspiration from any other writers.

"That surprised me at the time," he said. "Virtually all vicars in crime novels are out of the Father Brown bag - clerical sleuths who use their local knowledge to unmask the killer of the head churchwarden - that kind of stuff, which carefully avoids religion and mysticism."

Speaking on behalf of Hereford Cathedral, Dominic Harbour said the building was undergoing a major £1 million lighting project when filming was scheduled.

"There were cherry pickers in the cathedral and a lot of work and disruption." Mr Harbour said, adding that there had been a "lot of misinformation", but that the Dean and Chapter were "very positive about filming in the cathedral generally".

He said that ITV was "very happy" with what Hereford Cathedral was able to offer.

• Midwinter of the Spirit concludes next Wednesday on ITV at 9pm.