When children's author Andrew Meldrose flicked through a Christmas TV guide to see what was worth watching, the last thing he expected to find was his own film.

Andrew, who lives near Queen's Park in Brighton, was delighted to learn the cartoon he wrote had secured a prime slot in the Christmas Day schedules.

The feature-length film The Christmas Storykeepers, which tells the story of Christ's birth through the eyes of children in ancient Rome, will be shown on ITV tomorrow at 11.30am.

Set in AD64, when Emperor Nero was persecuting Christians and setting fire to the city, Ben, a baker, and his wife Helena find a group of orphaned children. The youngsters set off on an adventure with Ben to find their parents, during which he tells them about the Nativity.

Andrew, director of the Writing for Children MA course at King Alfred's College in Winchester, said: "I was cock-a-hoop when I found out. I had no idea it would be on. It is like having a number one single."

The musical nativity story was made in 1999 along with The Easter Storykeepers and has been endorsed by Dr George Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury.

Andrew has also written a series of 13 cartoons chronicling the New Testament.

He was initially approached by a Christian friend who wanted to bring the Bible to television for children but was having trouble writing the script.

Andrew said: "When it came to me the script was awful. It did not work because it was just the facts and children would have found it boring.

"To kids, Christmas is about presents and Easter is about chocolate eggs.

"I said, 'You've got to wrap up stories in shiny paper to present them.'

"So that is what I did. The Storykeepers series is 80 per cent adventure but still gets the message across.

"You also need baddies like Nilus the Roman soldier, or Snivilus Grovilus. Kids love that character as they understand the wordplay and know he is a nasty, snivelling piece of work."

Andrew, originally from Edinburgh, first moved to Brighton with his wife Diane in 1988 to do a postgraduate English degree, followed by a PhD at Sussex University.

The couple liked Brighton so much they stayed on, despite the fact Andrew later got a job in Winchester.

He said: "Given the choice between Winchester and Brighton, there was really no contest.

"Brighton is such a vibrant city. Our children, Abbi and Daniel, have grown up here and go to St Luke's School, which we are really pleased with.

"Daniel and I go to support the Seagulls whenever we can and hope to have season tickets when the new stadium is built."

This year Andrew has published three children's books to add to more than 20 already released.

He is working on a novel for pre-teens and is raising money for another animation series about children creating music from junk with Oscar-nominated film director Jimmy Murakami.