Hasselhoff to read bedtime story on TV

Ex-Baywatch star David Hasselhoff has landed his next plum role – helping to get children to sleep by reading a CBeebies Bedtime Story.

The former Knight Rider actor and Britain’s Got Talent judge will be telling the tale of Billy, who rescues one of his parents’ snails to keep as a pet, in a story of friendship and magic on New Year’s Eve.

The US star, 60, said: “As a child I used to love reading ’Twas the Night Before Christmas and I can still recite all the words today.”

He added of his own Christmas memories: “I remember my mother used to always make us a very special dish – string beans covered in marshmallows and cornflakes... fantastic!”

Hasselhoff, who will be reading My Friend Nigel by Jo Hodgkinson, said: “I think it is so important for children to become familiar with books from an early age.”

Other names reading bedtime stories over the festive period, on the BBC channel for young children, include singer Lulu, actors Bernard Cribbins, Matthew McNulty and Stephen Graham and Coronation Street star Sally Dynevor.

Graham, who is known for playing thug roles in the likes of This Is England and Boardwalk Empire, recently told how he wanted to read a CBeebies story so that his children could see him on-screen, but that the BBC had never got back to him.

Take That’s Gary Barlow and former Doctor Who star David Tennant have previously read stories on CBeebies over the Christmas period.