Comic mugged after ad shoot

Tom Meeten has been mugged after filming a TV ad in South Africa.

But all the chain-wielding thief got away with was his sandals.

The comic - known for his double act with Steve Oram - was mugged while having a quick cigarette outside a non-smoking restaurant in Cape Town.

The pair were there to shoot the new BT advert set in a vast ampitheatre, in which play the couple sitting in the clouds who respond to a girl's lonely hearts ad.

The sheer scale of the ad - which involved 4,000 extras - took them by surprise when they saw the finished version.

We had an idea, but didn't know quite how epic it would turn out to be" Tom said.

"We couldn't quite picture how it was going to work when we were sat up on a metal scaffold, trying to imagine it as a fluffy cloud", said Steve. "The bigness of it got to me. I felt like a romantic film star!"

He added: "The idea that connections like that are important was very well realised in the ad. It's a clever thought."

Tom and Steve enjoyed the location so much that once filming was over, they rented a flat for a week in Cape Town along with some of the other members of the cast.

The pair are now in Edinburgh for their character-based show.

Published: 30 Jul 2001