A FUNERAL director was in the national spotlight when he showed off his buried talent in a BBC 2 TV show.

Jim Nisbet from Rossendale based Fred Hamer Funeral Services appeared on the Some People With Funny Jokes show which was aired on Monday night at 9.45pm.

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The 66 year-old featured in the third episode of the show alongside funeral directors from across the UK who resurrected their favourite jokes of the genre.

The show featured three of his best jokes from five that were filmed during an afternoon in Media City in Salford in February.

Jim said: "At the start of the year I had a phone call out of the blue asking if I would like to be on a TV show. At the time I thought that it was going to be about the job as a funeral director. I directed them to our head office who agreed that I could take part in the show, then I got a call back asking to go down to Media City . I was surprised when I found out that they wanted me to tell jokes.

"It was a really good experience and I was pleased with how it came across when I watched it back. I prepared about 10 jokes that I thought were funny and in the end we filmed five of them, from this they selected three of the best which were included in the programme.

"My favourite joke is ' two guys walking across the golf course and they came across a main road, just at that point a hearse was driving past with two limousines behind it, one took his cap off and buried his head in reverence and his mate looked at him and said ' I didn't know Alan that you were religious in any way', he said 'I'm not but she was a good wife to me'."

The programme was not the first time that Jim has been in the spotlight.

The former police sergeant appeared on a Granada series called 'Just Ordinary Bobbies?' in 1979 which followed the work of the Practical Aid Group of the Greater Manchester Police.

Jim said: "As both a policeman and a funeral director you have to deal with a distressing situations. I think it is important to have a sense of humour in order to be able to cope.

"It is really important for me to try to put a smile on the face of someone that is grieving, but in a way that is very respectful and sensitive. "