A SOUTHEND actor is part of an all-star cast featuring in a new comedy to be shown on Sky.

Matthew Baynton, 34, who was born in Southend and attended Southend High School for Boys, will appear alongside former Birds of a Feather actress Pauline Quirke in You, Me and the Apocalypse, about a comet that is set to hit Slough.

Other stars appearing in the show include Brat Pack actor Rob Lowe and Megan Mullally, who played wealthy alcoholic socialite Karen Walker in the American sitcom Will and Grace.

Baynton plays one of the lead roles as bank manager Jamie, who has his life turned upside down when he is arrested on suspicion of cyber terrorism. He also discovers he has a twin brother Ariel, also played by Baynton.

Prior to his latest role, the actor played Deano in Gavin and Stacey and teamed up with his friend James Corden to appear in TV drama the Wrong Mans.

Baynton, who graduated with a first class degree from the Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance in London, said: “I play identical twins, Jamie and Ariel, but they have not had identical lives. Jamie is an intelligent and capable man who has experienced a big loss and to cope with it, he’s created a sort of safety blanket for himself in routine.”

Baynton is well known to many children and their parents as part of the award winning Horrible Histories team.

He is also the star of recently released movie Bill, a film which takes a comical look at Shakespeare’s “lost years”.

It is a long way from the Southend call centre where Baynton worked to pay his way through drama school.

He told the Independent newspaper: “It was the worst and best year of my life. The worst because of my job, which I hated so much I used to get physically ill on Sunday nights in dread.” The best because, aged 19, Baynton met his girlfriend, a film historian who specialises in silent movies. Fifteen years later, they have a three-year old son, Bo. He said: “I wouldn’t have either if it wasn’t for that dreary job.”

The show airs on Sky One on September 30.