A BLIND actor from East Oxford is joining a cast of disabled performers “pranking” members of the public on TV.

Tim Gebbels will star in Channel 4’s new comedy series I’m Spazticus this summer.

The hidden camera show will be broadcast in the evening, following Channel 4’s coverage of the London Paralympic Games, which take place in August and September.

Mr Gebbels, 44, said: “There will be five episodes, each featuring myself and other actors with disabilities.

“It’s basically a sketch show with a mix of hidden camera show and mock documentary.

“While I can’t reveal too much about it, my character is blind and slightly ‘around the bend’. Hopefully people will find him really funny.”

I’m Spazticus was commissioned by Channel 4 following a pilot programme, made eight years ago, which won an international disability award.

In that programme Mr Gebbels was filmed in a shopping centre apparently proposing to his girlfriend in front of bemused shoppers.

He said: “My ‘girlfriend’ (another actor) then walked away, leaving me on bended knee with a ring and continuing with my diatribe of love.

“And members of the public not in the joke then had to break it to me that she had left.”

He continued: “It’s not poking fun at disabled people, or able-bodied people either – everyone we film can say if they don’t want to appear.

“I hope it will make people laugh and maybe think for a second or two about what people with disabilities face, but it’s not leaden with messages about the oppression of people with disabilities or anything.”

Disability campaigner and Oxford Mail columnist Niall Strawson said he felt programmes like this were good at keeping such issues in the public eye.

Mr Strawson, 30, of Headington, who uses a wheelchair following a sledging accident in the US in 2009, said: “I just want my life to be as normal as it can be and I find that most people react to me in a way that’s completely appropriate.

“These programmes keep disability in the public eye and that’s good, because increasing awareness of disability issues is important.

“I will be interested to see the show, which sounds a bit like Dom Joly’s Trigger Happy TV.

“I think the programme will divide opinion among disabled and able-bodied people.”