FOOTAGE for a new documentary about Benny Hill has been shot in Eastleigh.

Camera crews from the BBC have been in the town to film the place that inspired Benny to devise his most famous comedy character Ernie, as he worked as a milkman in the town.

The working title for the series is Legends and programme makers hope to have it on our screens next autumn. It will be shown on BBC2 and each programme takes an individual from the world of entertainment and explores their life.

Other entertainment legends who will have their life story captured on film are black and white comedy pioneers Laurel and Hardy, comedy actor Peter Sellers and actor Oliver Reed.

A BBC spokesperson said: "The series is about the greatest entertainers of the twentieth century.

"Benny Hill is one of this country's most famous comedians. They love him all over the world and especially in America and Japan."

The Benny Hill brand of comedy has not lost the power to make people laugh. Re-runs of his show enjoy enormous success all over the globe.

A plaque commemorating Benny's life was put up in 1999 on the former site of his old employers Hann's Dorset Dairies in Hann's Way, Eastleigh.

It reads: "Benny Hill 1924-1992. Comedian of international acclaim. Ernie, the fastest milkman in the west began his career in Eastleigh and worked here at Hann's Dairies."

The star, who made his name with his saucy antics with a bevy of beauties, lived for a while at Westrow Gardens, Banister Park, Southampton.