Nick still officially holds the title of keyholder to Oxford Prison despite the fact it closed its doors in 1996.

The spectacular building now plays host to dozens of film crews each year - and it's up to Nick to let them in and out.

The council officer regularly chats to stars as they film inside the medieval building, but he has a confession to make that will shock the celebs he's met - "I don't know who many of them are!

"I have to admit, I don't watch a lot of TV," says Oxfordshire County Council's buildings and security officer. "It's a bit embarrassing. When The Bill started filming here I'd never seen it, so I watched a couple of episodes to try to get to know their faces. Some girl who used to be in Coronation Street was also here filming Bad Girls, but I didn't recognise her either."

Although Nick didn't manage to spot former Street star Joanne Froggatt, who played wayward Zoe, there was one person he did recognise - well, almost.

Hollywood star Glenn Close was at the prison to film Disney's 102 Dalmatians in her role as the fur-loving Cruella De Vil. Nick adds: "I knew who Glenn Close was because I'd seen Fatal Attraction, although she looked a lot different when she turned up here than she did in the film and I had to do a double take.

"I also failed to spot Robson Green when he arrived to film Touching Evil. I thought he was part of the film set security, but we ended up chatting and he was a really nice chap."

In the past three years,The Bill, Bad Girls, Kavanagh QC, Inspector Morse,The Jump,The Vanishing Man, One Foot in the Past and Secret History have all been shot there.

And that's not to mention the prison yard being used for a Pot Noodle ad - later famously banned for showing a naked man doing press-ups in front of a female warden. Former EastEnders bad boy Ross Kemp was the most recent visitor.

Last week, he was at the prison to film his new drama, Active Defence. Disney, when shooting the follow-up to 101 Dalmatians, didn't like the entrance to the prison so they made their own, more gothic, gates.

They also built fibreglass walls inside the prison when Glenn Close was filmed in her cell.

"In fact, our pigeons weren't quite up to scratch either and they brought in their own specially trained ones to film them flying out of the gates," says Nick. Filming has brought in about £200,000 in fees to the council coffers since the prison closed.

But the upkeep cost of the building is considerably more than that and Nick, with a shrug of his shoulders, admits the only way forward is the £16m plan to turn it into a hotel.

He adds: "I've had a lot of fun and met a lot of nice people and it will be a sad day when it's all over, but it's the only real option we have."

Story date: Saturday 05 February

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.