A BUDDING actor has sown the seeds of a TV career - by playing the junior Alan Titchmarsh in a trailer for a new gardening programme.

Seven-year-old Gethin Compton, of Morgan Street, Blaenavon, became Alan 'Titchy'marsh for the day as he played the green-fingered star for the opening sequence of his new BBC series How to be a Gardener.

The home video-effect trailer was filmed during one day last month in a studio in Hampshire, and will feature little Gethin wandering about a garden tending to the plants with an expert hand.

He then disappears behind a tree - only to be replaced by the real face of garden makeover favourite Ground Force.

Proud mum Donna, 32, said: "He was absolutely chuffed to bits when he learned he had the part, and so was I. He found Alan Titchmarsh really nice!"

She added: "The programme-makers had brought four tapes with them to record his bit, but they only used one, so he did really well and picked it up very quickly. He had lots of breaks, but as soon as he was called up to do his bit, he did it straightaway. We were there for a whole day, but it was all for just 30 seconds of film."

The performance, due to be shown on television in March, was the first for the young Ysgol Bryn Onnen pupil, who regularly attends Stagecoach drama group in Newport. But it could be the start of a blossoming acting career, as he has now signed up to an agency.

His mum said she had initially hoped he would follow in her footsteps and take up a musical instrument.

But she said: "He always preferred dancing around the house, so I took him to Stagecoach and he seemed to enjoy it, so he has carried on going."

However, she admitted that the call of the showbiz life may be pushed to the sidelines in favour of her son's real ambition.

Inspired by the recent dinosaur programmes and the third instalment in the Jurassic Park saga, he announced he wanted to be a palaeontologist!

8PICTURED: Gethin meets the real Alan