Alan Carr surprises child actor picked from 500 to play him in TV series

Watch: Alan Carr surprises young superfan with job offer to play him

Alan Carr surprised a child actor at home to tell him he'd been picked to play the comedian as a child.

The Chatty Man star has a new sitcom in the pipeline, which is about his life growing up as the son of a fourth division football manager in Northampton in the 1980s.

He will play himself as an adult in six-part series Changing Ends but launched a huge search to find a little boy who could play him as a child.

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Five hundred children had sent in audition tapes, with Carr saying some were "heartwarming" and joking that others were "downright offensive".

He said Oliver Savell "stood out from the rest" and went to his house to give him the good news.

In the clip, Carr is waiting at the house when Savell - who was in the film Belfast - returns home from school.

“I would love you to play me, I think you’re brilliant," he said to the stunned schoolboy.

“Yes, yes, let’s go," Savell exclaimed, adding that he couldn't wait to get started.

"I’m so excited!" he said as the pair sat at the kitchen table together.

ITV said the comedy series is “more than just a trip down memory lane” and will be “a love letter to a time and a town where things weren’t always so inclusive”.

It follows the star’s journey through puberty, adolescence and self-discovery, all against the backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain.

Carr said: “Well if someone had told little old me back in Northampton in the mid 80s that ITV would give me my own sitcom based on my life I would have choked on my Flumps.

"Super proud that I can share my story with you - expect lots of giggles, pathos and nostalgia and believe it or not football - who knew?!”

Nana Hughes, ITV's head of comedy, said the series "brings a hilarious 1980s nostalgic comedy to ITV" and promised that viewers were "in for a treat".

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Changing Ends will start filming in early 2023 and will air on ITV later that year.