McGuinness's new role

Peter Kay sidekick Paddy McGuinness is to star as washed-up stuntman Chuck Stryker in a new sitcom.

The Phoenix Nights star – and former fitness instructor – piled on the pounds for his role in The Unknown Stuntman, which he also wrote.

But filming has not been without its problems.

‘I'm in make up for a couple of hours every day and I've got a big bushy wig, not ideal considering it's nigh on a 100 degrees outside,’ the comic wrote on his website.

‘I've put on about a stone and half in weight to get that nice paunch round the stomach. It was hell eating all those cakes, drinking beer and having extra sugars in my tea, but it was all worth it because it suits the character.

‘I'll have to hammer the ab rocker down the gym to get rid of my gut, but it shouldn't take too long to get back to a fighting weight, please God.’

The show seems to continue McGuinness and Kay’s love of cheesy nostalgia by spoofing Eighties action series The Fall Guy.

Stryker was once Hollywood's most prolific stuntman, but now lives back home in Barnsley, in a one-bedroom flat above a pizza shop.

The only thing that stops the bitterness consuming him alive is Paul Dreggs, a young ambitious stuntman who idolises Chuck and wants to learn the craft from a master.

Published: 20 Jul 2006