GHOSTLY goings-on in the dungeon of a stately home near Dorchester have been captured on film for a spooky new television series.

Athelhampton House, the 15th Century stately pile just outside Puddletown, is said to be haunted by several spooks, including a 16th Century monkey in a secret staircase, a ghostly cooper and the Grey Lady.

Now the house is about to seal its reputation by becoming one of Britain's most haunted houses after former Blue Peter presenter Yvette Fielding, a medium and a parapsychologist spent 24 hours in the company of the ghosts and ghouls resident there.

The experts say that they saw 'strange orbs' around the cradle in the castle dungeon at Athelhampton and even say that they heard the cradle rocking by itself while they were in the next room.

And they say that they witnessed an apparition in the main hall of the building that looks like a monkey.

On Saturday night the first programme in the series of Most Haunted, featuring Athelhampton House, will be screened on the Living TV satellite channel.

Parapsychologist Jason Karl suggested the house for the programme after he visited it years ago and remembered the spectral quality of the place.

He said: "Athelhampton House was one of my favourites out of the 16 places we visited - a lot of places we didn't see anything, but there we saw what looked like circular globes of light.

"What was so unusual about it was that the orbs seemed to be interacting with us - we had a big crew of 15 with us so there were several witnesses.

"The medium, Derek Acorah, detected several different ghosts, even though he had no prior knowledge of the house and the ghosts there.

"Most of the filming is at night and I believe it's the first show of its kind in the UK - we think it's going to be special and we have already attracted quite a bit of attention from people interested in the paranormal.

The show featuring Athelhampton House will be aired at 8.30pm on Saturday night, and it will be repeated regularly until Christmas.