A North-East youngster is about to make his television debut.

Jed Riddell, of Spennymoor, County Durham, beat hundreds of children to win a role in an advertisement for Nestle All Stars sweets.

The talented 12-year-old and five other youngsters will be transformed into lookalikes of pop group S Club 7 to perform to the hit track Don't Stop Movin'. Jed takes to role of band member Jon Lee.

The Spennymoor Comprehensive School pupil had to get through a video round then an audition of 50 hopefuls to reach the final six.

He has just finished two days of rehearsals and two days filming the advert, in a London studio, which is due to be broadcast from October.

It will not be Jed's first taste of show business as he appeared in Peter Pan, at Darlington Civic Theatre, two years ago, other shows at school and with Spennymoor Youth Theatre Group.

He said: "I would really like to be an actor, preferably in West End musicals, so this is good practice and, hopefully, I may get spotted by a director.

"It will be really weird seeing myself on TV but it's really exciting and all my friends and family are genuinely pleased for me."

His mother, Kim Robinson, said: "When we got the telephone call to say he'd got through we were jumping around with excitement. I'm very proud of him."

TV presenter Kate Thornton, who fronted the search, said: "Opportunities like this often bring great talent to the public's attention and many of our biggest stars started their careers getting used to the cameras fronting ads."