A budding teenage comedian who won a nationwide BBC competition has taken his first steps towards stardom after appearing on the One Show.

Teddington School pupil Samuel Kirk beat out hundreds of hopefuls to be crowned Class Act in the sketch writing category of the BBC’s Comedy Classroom last week.

The 15-year-old impressed judges, including Charlie Higson, of The Fast Show fame, with his comic take on aliens landing on earth.

The youngster spent the day at BBC studios in central London to watch his skit being filmed by professional actors.

He appeared on the BBC chat show with winners from the stand up and caption writing categories on Wednesday, November 16.

Mr Kirk said: "My first reaction was disbelief. You really don't think it's going to be you. A lot of people applied so it felt really good to be chosen.

"My mum had known about it for a week because the BBC had to get permission but was sworn to secrecy. She was really pleased for me."

Samuel got the idea to write the sketch after joining the after-school creative writing club at Teddington School.

He said: "The school were really supportive. They encourage you to try different things at this school and to be creative.

"This is what I want to do full time now, write comedy. My brother does animations so we are trying to write something together."

Mr Higson said: “We had some fantastic entries. There were some genuinely funny scripts. I think just the fact that kids made the effort to go in for this competition and to put the work in is amazing.

"Comedy is a bit undervalued, particularly in schools.

"English lessons can be quite serious, so it’s great to encourage that side of things, because comedy is such an important part in all of our lives."