TALK about taking Steps to stardom! Shane McKeever is set to make his first TV appearance tomorrow night (Friday) when he line dances his way onto the kids talent show Steps II The Stars, presented by Claire and H from chart-topping band Steps.

Seven-year-old Shane, a member of a well-known Blackpool family, is among only 28 acts appearing on the series, chosen from an initial 3,000 entries and will be the youngest contestant in this series when he trips the light fantastic to the song Tricky Tricky.

Mum Michelle, who lived on Bloomfield Road, Blackpool, until 1988 before moving to Crossmaglen in Northern Ireland, told the Citizen: "Shane is already well-known over here as he is twice world line dancing champion. He loves it and has been entering competitions since he was just five years old. Line dancing is just his game.

"It started when I used to take him to watch his daddy John line dancing at the local club when Shane was just two years old and would get down on the floor and have a go.

"Then when he was four the teacher came to me and said he had a real future and she wanted to give him one to one lessons! I couldn't believe it, but it just went from there and now he's World champion. I think people like him because he's so cute and so young to be so good." And the Blackpool link isn't quite severed as Michelle explained: "My husband John ran the Priceless Windows company in St Annes which we still have, plus we still own our house on Bloomfield Road. Also Shane's uncle Bernard still lives on Somerset Avenue so we are still very much in touch with the town.

"It's time Shane made his mark in England and when we heard about Steps II The Stars we sent a video off and the producers got back to us straight away and then flew over to see Shane and that was that -- he was booked on the first show."

The winner of each show will be decided by a phone-in vote with the winning act in the grand final at the end of the series appearing of the Saturday morning children's show, Live and Kicking, and also winning themselves a day with Steps.

And presenters Claire and H are delighted at the response for the second series: "The amount of talent we have on the show is incredible," they said. "Today's young acts are the stars of tomorrow and we are thrilled with this exciting showcase for new talent."

Shane can be seen in action at 4.35pm on BBC One on March 2.