Few would say that showbiz vicar David Prout was cut from the traditional clerical cloth.

Father Prout mixes his role as vicar at St Elisabeth's Church in Eastbourne with bit-parts in some of Britain's most popular television shows.

Fr David, 53, holds the distinction of being the only real vicar to play one on TV.

In 1994, he christened Max and Patricia Farnham's daughter in Brookside.

He said: "I travelled up to Brookside's Liverpool studio from Eastbourne in my clerical outfit and remember walking into wardrobe, where I met a lovely young lady.

"She asked who I was and I explained that I was Fr David who had come along to play Max and Patricia's vicar.

"She couldn't believe that I was a real vicar. She looked at me in my outfit and said, 'Are you trying to tell me I've spent the last four hours trying to get hold of a clerical outfit when you're already wearing one?'. I had to laugh."

Other parts have included walk-ons in ITV's Spender, A Touch Of Frost and as an extra in the video to Simply Red's hit song, Holding Back The Years.

He said: "It caused quite a stir because I understand it gets shown quite a lot in aeroplanes so I often get postcards from friends in Tenerife or wherever saying, 'Ooh, we saw you on our flight over'."

He said his talent was inherited from his mother, the singer Doris Coles. While he was ordained in 1974 and made a priest a year later, Fr David has always performed, and was even a pantomime dame during a summer season in Yorkshire.

After a varied career within the church, Fr David was asked to join St Elisabeth's Church in Victoria Drive, Eastbourne, by the Bishop of Chichester in 1997.

He said: "Eastbourne is a wonderful place with a rich tapestry of people and talent, particularly within the arts."

Since coming to the resort he has become chaplain of Eastbourne Theatres. He also raises money for charity, which has included a 12-hour piano session at his local pub, The Pilot in Meads, Eastbourne, in aid of Children In Need.

It was through his work with Eastbourne Theatres he met legendary pianist Russ Conway, who died from cancer last year.

When Mr Conway's old chum Mike Ramsden was scouring Eastbourne for a church to hold his memorial service, Fr David suggested St Elisabeth's and played an impromptu singalong of Mr Conway's hit Side Saddle.

Fr David is staging a tribute concert to Mr Conway at the Royal Hippodrome Theatre in Seaside Road, Eastbourne, on September 29 in aid of St Wilfrid's Hospice.