RISING star Andrew Buchan is appearing on television screens this week is a role he knows well from his early acting days in Bolton Andrew, aged 31, is playing Joseph in The Nativity, which was filmed in Morocco and is being shown on BBC One over four nights, with the first episode screened on Monday.

The star of drama series Garrow’s Law is among good company in The Nativity, with the cast including Art Malik, Frances Barber and Peter Capaldi.

But in Bolton it was his primary school classmates who shone alongside him when he played the same part when he was nine or 10.

He said: “I remember that Mary was very tall while I was the size of a pea.

“So there was a huge height discrepancy between us — which was q u i t e funny.”

He admitted the idea of playing Jpseph again made him nervous, but he was impressed by Tony Jordan’s script.

“He brought humour, sadness, anger, hurt, pain, trust and love, this huge bundle of emotions to it but in a very real and simple fashion; and I think that’s what The Nativity commands — it needs that,” said the former Rivington and Blackrod pupil.

But filming over several weeks in Morocco alongside newcomer T a t i a n a Maslany as Mary, was not without its lighter moments, especially when it came to working with Clara the donkey.

Andrew, who was born in Horwich, said: “There was one shot where we were walking down alleyways, knocking on people’s doors, looking for help.

“And Clara just turned around and ran.

“Luckily Tatiana wasn’t on the donkey at this point; but it had ‘outtake’ written all over it.”

Andrew plans to spend this Christmas with his family in the North of England but hopes viewers will find something new about the Nativity story everyone thinks they know so well.

“I hope they find it a very honest account of what happened. I hope they are excited, reeled in, surprised and even refreshed by it,” he said.