A TV show including model Katie Price has been criticised for holding a seance in a Great Tew church.

The seance took place at St Michael and All Angels, in New Road, as part of the TV show Ghosthunting with Katie, Alex and Friends.

But church leaders said the programme makers, Antix Productions, did not get permission to try to contact the dead in the building.

Antix Productions said it had permission and did not desecrate the church, but apologised if it caused upset.

The Ven Julian Hubbard, Archdeacon of Oxford, said: “The event was entirely inappropriate for a church, and the filming took place without the necessary permission from the church authorities.”

He said the Bishop of Dorchester, the Rt Rev Colin Fletcher, held a service of prayer to bless the church after the incident.

Professional medium Adrian Oliver, of Brize Norton, said: “I personally would not do it in a church because I think it’s disrespectful.

“It would be almost like going to a mosque and eating a bacon sandwich. It is wrong.”

The show was spotted by the Rev Bernard Rumbold, vicar of St Michael and All Angels, who made the complaint.

He said: “It was quite a shock to me and to many people in the village, and it is certainly a rather blasphemous and sacrilegious thing to do.”

The show was aired on ITV2 last August.

Katie Price, her former husband Alex Reid and their friends took part in the show, along with presenter Yvette Fielding.

Karl Beattie, executive producer at Antix Productions, said: “All proceedings were overseen and no one mentioned that they were unhappy with what was happening. If so, they could have stopped it then.

“Obviously, if anyone was upset we do offer our sincere apologies but the term desecrated is wrongly used and shows a complete misunderstanding of what a ouija board is.”

He said the company had carried out seances involved ouija boards in other churches without issue.