ONE of television's most popular actors spent two days in East Lancashire filming footage for his Christmas DVD.

Ricky Tomlinson, who played couch-potato Jim Royle in BBC's cult programme the Royle Family, was at Accrington Stanley's Fraser Eagle Stadium shooting scenes for the DVD due out later this year.

Ricky, 67, who also played fictional England manager Mike Bassett in the 2001 film Mike Bassett: England Manager, larked around with Stanley officials and members of the youth team who were asked to help out in filming.

Stanley's chairman Eric Whalley said they were approached because the ground, unlike many others, was not an all-seater.

Mr Whalley said: "The producers wanted a club with terracing still in place and somewhere that had quite a nostalgic feel to it.

"In my opinion, every ground will have seating in a few years and that's why they came to us, because we had the standing areas.

"When they came to us we said yes and took the money for it."

Mr Whalley didn't meet Ricky but Mick Schultz, Stanley's safety officer, took part in filming along with other members of staff.

Mr Schultz said: "He's just like he is on the TV really and he is a nice guy.

"It's good for the club to have someone like that down at the ground and it puts Accrington on the map again.

"Even though the DVD is a bit of a laugh, it puts Stanley back in people's minds and raises the profile of the town.

"A lot of people don't know where Hyndburn is and this is good for the profile of the area.

"A few of us helped out as extras.

"Me and Gary Lewis, the groundsman, did a stretcher scene for him and then did a bit of a Benny Hill sketch in which we were chased round the pitch. It was a good laugh."

Mr Schultz said Ricky spent most of the day filming and was at the ground until 7pm on both nights, only stopping for an hour for his lunch.

This is the second time in nine months that Ricky has been in East Lancashire following his Christmas lights switch-on in Black-burn last December.