COMIC book illustrator Dave Golding has landed a new job working on a television show drawing monsters and spaceships.

He is creating characters for BBC 2’s Prank Patrol which is presented by Barnsley’s Sam Nixon.

He said: “It was pure chance that I got the job. I worked in a comic book shop and was leaving there to start as an illustrator.

“I had two days left when the BBC phoned the shop and asked if we knew any illustrators. When they mentioned being on tv I went, ‘ooh, I'm not sure’. But I phoned back the next day and said I would do it.

“I've filmed three episodes now and two have been on. It fell into my lap by pure chance but I would have been an idiot not to take it.

“It’s a great laugh but it’s a bit strange when you see yourself on tv. I thought I looked quite good because I had lost a few stone, then I saw myself.”

Dave has yet to meet Sam, who shot to fame on Pop Idol, because the filming is done at different places. But if his art teachers at the old St Helen's school, Athersley, had had their way Dave, 32, would never have got the job.

He said: “All I ever wanted to do was draw comics but my art teachers said comic book art was rubbish. I went to Barnsley Art College and it was the same there. Eventually they ground me down and I thought, ‘comic books are for kids’.”