MATTHEW Kelly look-alike Tony Mattinson has stars in his eyes after helping to spring a surprise on the popular TV presenter.

The dead ringer from Darwen was invited to Granada Studios in Manchester to meet Matthew and now he is hoping to become a stand-in star in his own right after a number of agencies realised he was game for a laugh.

Tony, 52, of Prince Lee Meadows, was asked to walk through swirling dry ice and those famous doors to surprise Matthew during the recording of Stars in Their Eyes.

The showdown was set up after Tony's colleagues at Crown Wallcoverings, where he is company pensions manager, contacted a national tabloid newspaper who thought it would be fun to play a trick on Matthew.

Tony said: "I was asked to play my part in the set-up to surprise Matthew and it was great fun.

"After the show my wife Pamela and I had a meal and a drink with Matthew and we had a good chat.

"He's a really nice man, just as friendly and fun-loving as he appears to be on television, and it was pleasure to meet him at last."

Tony feels like he has known Matthew for years and sometimes it seems like he is living a star's life with him. He said: "For more years than I care to remember I have been mistaken for Matthew.

"Whenever I go on holiday people ask me for my autograph -- well Matthew's autograph -- and I have been asked to compere and introduce karaoke acts while I have been enjoying a drink with the family abroad.

"In fact, while I was waiting to go into the studio to meet Matthew at the weekend, Granada TV reporter Paul Crone and the actor who plays Steve MacDonald in Coronation Street both passed by and said 'Hello Matthew.'

"I also met Jeremy Beadle once in Blackpool after he came up to me thinking I was his pal Matthew."

But the similarities between Tony and Matthew don't end with just looks.

They are both the same height, roughly the same age, have the same number of children and grandchildren and they both have fun-loving, outgoing personalities.

Tony said: "I'm definitely not a shy kind of bloke and it would be great if eventually I was taken up by a lookalike agency to do some work impersonating Matthew.

"Now I have met him I know he is a genuinely nice chap and it is a pleasure for me when people associate me with him."

Picture: The real Matthew Kelly (left) with Tony and his wife Pam

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