An IT technician from Lincolnshire has fulfilled a childhood dream to star as an alien in a scene from Doctor Who.

Tim Ingham (28), from Langworth, fought off competition from thousands of other entrants to the BBC contest and will star in the scene tomorrow night.

The competition was run by BBC One's Tonight's The Night and entrants had to send in pictures of themselves in home-made alien outfits.

Mr Ingham, who works at the University of Lincoln and is a member of Lincoln Academy of Dramatic Arts, constructed a costume from tights, the gel pads from his fiancee's bra and a wine cooler.

"I discovered the competition on the Internet by chance and realised there was only a couple of days until the closing date," he said.

"I hadn't got any ideas so I slept on it and then started to get some inspiration.

"The wine cooler looked like a good weapon and I put some tights on my head and looked like a garish bank robber."

Mr Ingham's alien creation, Sao Til, is a sinister body snatcher that harvests human body parts.

The thousands of applications received by BBC researchers were whittled down to just 50 and then 10 were carried through to the final elimination round.

Mr Ingham was then faced with a panel made up of Denise Van Outen, John Barrowman and Doctor Who casting Director Andy Pryor.

After being announced as the winner he was whisked away to the set of the TARDIS at the BBC's studios in Cardiff to film the scene.

The show will air tomorrow night on BBC One at 7.20pm.

For more on Mr Ingham's alien creation for Doctor Who, see Friday's Echo.