The real stars in BBC's Jane Eyre

Forget about Pilot, the prima donna or Mesrour. The real stars are sheep, of course. Leicester Longwool sheep, no less.

MOVE aside Colin Firth - Barry Enderby's Leicester Longwool sheep are the latest stars of the small screen.

Barry has been breeding the rare sheep for 22 years and they had a taste of the high life recently when they starred in two major television productions, BBC period drama Jane Eyre and ITV comedy series Kingdom.

Barry and his sheep rubbed shoulders with the likes of Stephen Fry, Tony Slattery, Celia Imrie and Toby Stephens, who is best known as Die Another Day Bond baddie Gustav Graves.

The sheep made their first television appearance in Jane Eyre and were chosen because they are the right breed for the period.

Barry took 19 of his 50-strong flock for the two-day shoot in Alfreton in Derbyshire, where filming took place at Wingfield Manor, a derelict country mansion which doubles as the burned remains of Edward Rochester's home Thornfield Hall.

Barry, of Whaplode, said: "I have been involved in documentaries before but it was the first time I had been on a drama film set."

We transported the sheep to Alfreton for the shoot, which took place in 35 acres of grassland."

They were required for two scenes and behaved impeccably, completing the first scene in two takes and the second in one."

The whole day's shooting represented just four minutes of TV air time."

Picture credits: Leicester Longwool breeder Barry Enderby with one of his TV star sheep. (2706b41) Source: Spalding Today.

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