A NIGHTCLUB bouncer who was talent-spotted as a gangster while at work is carving out a career in TV and film.

Billy Hodge, 40, of Aspen Lane, Oswaldtwistle, will appear in the film Diary of a Bad Lad as Big Billy - a businessman and gangster's right-hand man.

Although he has no lines, the part involves a great deal of improvisation.

Billy has also been seen as an extra in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks on Monday delivering wine to the Gnosh restaurant, and has played a patient in the nursing series No Angels also on Channel 4.

His talents will hit the big screen when the Diary of a Bad Lad reaches general release at the end of this year.

And Billy has already started filming for his next film, Bar Stewards, also set in Blackburn and about a man whose life falls apart when the girl of his dreams leaves him.

The Diary of a Bad Lad was filmed in Blackburn two years, with the majority taking place at Jazzy Kex nightclub in Regent Street, Blackburn, where Billy works.

The film sees character Barry Licks, a frustrated film-maker, attempt to make a documentary about a businessman, who he believes is involved in property rackets, prostitution, pornography and the importation of recreational drugs.

The extras actor also finds time to work as a doorman at Last Orders pub in Blackburn town centre and has just finished his first year of a three-year plumbing course at Blackburn College.

Billy, who is working towards