Sussex Police charged David Chenery-Wickens, 51, from Duddleswell, with murder on Friday night after Mrs Chenery-Wickens' remains were found off Worth Lane in the village of Little Horsted, near Uckfield, East Sussex, just before 10am on Thursday.

Chenery-Wickens stood in the dock at Hastings Magistrates' Court flanked by two officers as the murder charge was read out.

Mary Gordon, chairman of the magistrates' bench committed the case to Lewes Crown Court. The hearing will take place on Friday, August 22.

Chenery-Wickens was remanded in custody following the brief hearing.

Mrs Chenery-Wickens, 48, had been missing for four months before her remains were found by a woman walking her dog. The cause of death is yet to be established.

Mrs Chenery-Wickens, who worked on shows including Dead Ringers, The League Of Gentlemen and Casualty, was reported missing by her husband on January 24 after she failed to attend a meeting at the BBC in London.

She won a prestigious Emmy award in 2000 for her work on Arabian Nights.

In 2003 she was nominated for a Bafta in the make-up and hair design category for her work on Dead Ringers, missing out to an artist on Little Britain.

Dead Ringers impressionist Jon Culshaw made a televised appeal for help in finding Mrs Chenery-Wickens days after she went missing.