WHILE most of us will be settling down to watch festive TV, a trio of Burnley stars will be treading the boards in top theatrical productions.

Basics Theatre Dance Group, in Plumbe Street, Burnley, has gone from strength to strength since it was established more than 18 years ago.

The successful theatre group have produced some top male talent, including the likes of Padiham Pop Idol reject Andrew Derbyshire, young ballet dancing star Christopher Parkinson and panto star Lee Greenaway.

Andrew, 21, has always dreamt of stardom ever since joining Basics and starring in shows such as 42nd Street in 1997.

Since his days being under the scrutiny of sharp-tongued Simon Cowell he has been wowing the West End in the Queen musical We Will Rock You -- playing understudy to the leading role of Galileo.

The brainchild behind the theatre group, Dennis Murtaugh, said: "Andrew came to us when he was 10. His first part was as Billy Lawlor in 42nd Street and then went on to do other things such as playing Tony in Westside Story. He went from here to Arts Educational in London, where nine times out of 10 people don't get taken on. Andrew won acceptance into the college and a scholarship which was worth £30,000. The tale behind it is quite funny because they loved Andrew so much they stopped him half way through his audition and told him they wanted him. Andrew's response was 'I'll have to ask my mum first' and that's the way Andrew is."

This Christmas Andrew is playing the Bible's most famous interpreter of dreams, Joseph, in the smash-hit Andrew Lloyd-Webber show Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

And success has come early for 11-year-old Christopher, who as a male ballet dancer hoped to follow in the footsteps of his teenage idol -- Billy Elliott.

In the New Year, he is set to star in a Persil detergent advert, where he will play a young Wayne Rooney.

He performed in a Basics production of Singing in the Rain at Burnley Mechanics when he played the part of Don -- the same part played by Gene Kelly in the 1950s hit movie.

And Basics' third success story is 19-year-old Lee Greenaway, who has landed various walk-on parts in Coronation Street and Christmas panto in Cardiff with Cannon and Ball.

He is currently in his second year at London's Lane Dance College.

The Burnley theatre's success didn't happened over night. It was born out of one man's vision for the future of theatre in Burnley.

Husband and wife team, Dennis and Sally Murtaugh, started their dream in 1986 with nothing more than ideas and passion.

Dennis said: "I saw some kids on stage one night and saw they were floundering. They got upset by the things that were happening because they hadn't had proper training.

"It was this that made me say it's time we did something for the kids. What they really needed was to go to back to Basics. The success only came with hard work and you don't get that for nothing."