HE used to wear a rabbit fur coat as Our Lucien in The Liver Birds - and younger viewers will recognise his Liverpudlian tones as the narrator who took over from Ringo Starr on Thomas the Tank Engine.

But this week, well-known television actor Michael Angelis, who also starred in Boys From The Black Stuff, lent his considerable experience to an altogether smaller production - a Newport student's film project.

The ten-minute short, entitled The Humour and the Horror, is written, produced and directed by University of Wales, Newport, MA student Alan Grice.

It is shot in Gwent and charts a day in the life of the father of a severely autistic girl.

Michael Angelis plays the father of the girl, and the film shows his daily struggle to care for her while his wife works.

"This is very much a first for me," said Mr Angelis. "Alan wrote to me and I was very impressed by the script he sent. "It was very well written, so I was keen to do it.

"I hadn't realised how much autism can tear a family apart and how difficult life can be for people with the condition."

Mr Angelis is used to television and film work, having worked on dozens of classic television shows including A Touch of Frost, Lovejoy, Minder, Bergerac and Casualty.

But this is the first time he has been involved in a student film. "Fortunately for me I was able to go ahead and do this," said Mr Angelis.

"It's a joy to work on something so worth while, something that will create some social awareness of this problem."

Director Alan Grice said he was thrilled to have Michael Angelis on board. "I sent his agent a script in the long- shot hope that he might be interested. I was delighted when he said he was because I have been a big fan of his work since the 80s. I consider it an honour and a privilege to work with him."

Locations across Gwent, including the Caerleon campus of the University of Wales, Newport, Cwmbran Stadium, and Sainsbury's supermarket in Cwmbran were used in filming.

Actor George Christopher, better known as Ziggy, from Grange Hill, and little Jimmy Corkhill, from Brookside, is also appearing, as is the director's own daughter, 15-year-old Michelle.