OXFORD’s academics will have their lives interrupted by the word of witches, vampires and daemons for the filming of a new TV drama.

Deborah Harkness’ bestselling novel ‘A Discovery Of Witches’ is to be adapted for TV, starring Downton Abbey’s Matthew Good.

Sky announced the project, also starring Hacksaw Ridge actress Teresa Palmer as heroine Diana Bishop, which will see witches, vampires and daemons living unseen among humans in the city.

Goode will play enigmatic geneticist and vampire Matthew Clairmont who, along with Diana, will attempt to understand the secrets of an ancient manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library as events threaten to unravel the peace between humans and their supernatural counterparts.

Filming will begin in September between Wolf Studios in Wales and on location in Oxford.

Ms Harkness, who will serve as executive producer, said: “Teresa and Matthew perfectly capture my characters – I’m so excited by the casting and how they will bring the books to life.”

A Discovery of Witches is a 2011 historical-fantasy novel and the debut novel by American scholar Ms Harkness.

It follows the story of Diana Bishop, an alchemical history professor at Oxford University.

After she accidentally discovers an elusive, long-thought-lost manuscript, is compelled to embrace the magic in her blood she has sought to keep out of her life.

Ultimately she engages in a forbidden romance with a charming vampire.