A house in Jericho - 31 Nelson Street - was rocked by three explosions in the early hours of this morning.

But there was no need for alarm, as it was all part of filming for the new ITV series of Lewis, the follow-up to Inspector Morse.

Film crews from ITV Productions had been at the house, owned by Worcester College, for the past three days preparing everything for the blast.

The late-night shoot was to be the dramatic conclusion to one of the episodes of the new series.

As part of the episode, crews had to film the door and windows being blown out, with filming going on until around 3am.

Mary Brown, who lives next door, said she was looking forward to seeing it on the finished episode.

Mrs Brown, 87, said: "I think it's all very exciting really and getting to see everything that goes towards making the episode is really interesting.

"I was very fond of Morse, though I haven't really watched much of the Lewis series, but I'll definitely be watching it when it's on."

Mrs Brown said she and her cat planned to go to a friend's house for the evening to get out of the way while filming was going on.

She said: "They said it would be a good idea as it would be a bit noisy and I don't mind as it's not every day you have a film crew next door."

Preparation for the shoot took nearly a month as 900 letters were sent out to Jericho residents to inform them the explosions would be taking place.

Pandora Maxwell, 48, who lives opposite the house, said: "I think it's a bit of fun really and I haven't heard anyone complain about it.

"They have had chaps over there for the past four days working on these special fire boxes behind the windows.

"I have to confess I have never watched Lewis but I loved Morse - I'll have to look out for it when it's on."

Jenny Beardmore, 31, who lives a few doors down, said the amount of warning given to residents had made sure there was no inconvenience.

Mrs Beardmore said: "We've been given enough time before any of the filming started to raise any concerns and everyone from the film crew has been very helpful."

Simon Baber, the on-site location manager, was quick to thank all the local residents for making the filming run so smoothly.

He said: "We realise there is a certain amount of inconvenience that will be caused by this filming, but residents have been very understanding.

"Some film companies try to keep residents out, but we have to come back and film in these areas again and we try to keep them as happy as we can."

The process involved handing out more than four cases of wine to those residents most affected by filming, as Control Plus granted temporary permission for the suspension of residents' only parking.

The bulk of the filming for the Lewis series is done in London, with eight out of the 24 days of filming allocated to location filming in Oxford.

Mr Baber said: "You can't really mess about with Jericho as it's such a well known area and people will spot it if we're not really filming here.

"One of the very first Morse murders was filmed here and the area has featured in other episodes of that series, as well as other Lewis episodes, and it's always nice to come back."