THE cameras rolled in New Brighton today to film scenes for an ITV drama about the life and career of '60s icon Cilla Black.

Camera crews have been on the beach near Fort Perch Rock this morning filming "Cilla", which features Two Pints of Lager A Packet Of Crisps star Sheridan Smith, who plays the Liverpool-born pop-star-turned TV presenter in a three-part drama.

Filming also took place on the steps of Wallasey Town Hall overlooking the River Mersey.

The mini-series, which will be broadcast in the autumn, follows Priscilla White's emergence from the  Merseybeat music scene in the early 1960s to become a chart-topping pop star.

Her first number one, Anyone Who Had a Heart, was followed by 16 consecutive top 40 hits before she made the move to TV presenting.

The show examines how she met The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein and her future husband Bobby Willis.

Doug Darroch, owner of Fort Perch Rock, told the Globe: "It's a real buzz for the area. 

"We have a real Merseybeat connection and apparently Cilla has said in the past that New Brighton was one of her favourite places."

Sheridan Smith said recently: "I am thrilled to be playing Cilla,as she is a British icon.

"In the 60s, as a young girl from Liverpool, she had numerous number ones and sang with The Beatles, her life story is fascinating".

The series was written by Jeff Pope, ITV’s head of factual drama, who won a Bafta award for the Steve Coogan and Dame Judi Dench flm Philomena.