Baldrick and Bipity will be treading the boards at the Palace Theatre, Manchester alongside stars including Russ Abbott and Gary Wilmott.

The doggy duo, both seven years old, will take it in turns to play the part of Bill Sykes' dog, Bullseye during the next five months.

The action began when Karl, aged 33, of Chiltern Close, Sandiway, received a phone call asking for two bull terriers to appear in the production with no audition necessary.

"I was quite excited. It's going to be an interesting experience especially as it's on the stage," said Karl, who has been breeding bull terriers for 10 years.

This isn't the first time that Baldrick has played a lead role in a production.

For he appeared alongside Jeremy Brett in ITV's series of Sherlock Holmes a few years ago.

Karl said: "It was quite easy then because we just spent a day filming on a street in Toxteth.

"I suppose anything could happen with the production being on stage," he added.

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