The mantelpiece is lined with cards, as Angus Harrison leads the way into the living room of his family home in Horfield.

It's Angus' 18th birthday, and there can be few better ways for an aspiring young actor to spend his big day, than by preparing himself for the screening of his first major TV role.

The youngster appears in My Almost Famous Family – a new CBBC sitcom – which comes to our screens today.

The title of the show could be prescient, though the way things are going for the Harrison clan, the word 'almost' is becoming redundant.

Angus' younger brother, Duncan, became a household name when he clinched the title of BBC Young Speaker of the Year in a competition earlier this year.

As she stands in the kitchen making tea, mum Helen is beaming with understandable pride.

"It's been quite a year," she says. "What with Duncan's success in the speaking competition, then with Angus landing this sitcom role, I couldn't be more thrilled."

Actually, Angus' talent for treading the boards has been apparent to his mum for years.

"I remember him having a part in the church pantomime at the age of five, and I stood there thinking, 'yes, he's really got something'."

Helen and Angus' dad Robert were happy to support the youngster's enthusiasm for acting – sending him to the Helen O'Grady Drama Academy, the Bristol School of Performing Arts, and most recently, the Actors' Workshop in Flax Bourton.

"Over the last couple of years, I've had a few small roles in shows like Skins and M.I. High," Angus explains. "But when this new series came up, it seemed like a great opportunity, because it was for a lead part, for the entire series.

"My agent sent me to the rehearsals down in London, and I was thrilled when I was given the part. The only trouble was, it would mean a 13-week stint filming at Pinewood Studios, right in the middle of the time that I was due to be revising for my AS level exams."

But Angus managed to take the whole thing in his stride – somehow finding time to do plenty of studying at Redland Green College, between filming sessions. He was obviously doing something right, as he recently got his results – four straight As.

"The results came as a bit of a surprise, to be honest," he laughs. "I'm not sure how I did that well. But it's made me realise that no matter how well the acting career is going, I should keep pushing with the academic work, so that I can get to go to university next year."

Angus will be sitting down in front of the TV with his family today to watch the first episode of My Almost Famous Family.

"It's quite exciting," he says. "It was such good fun to work on the series in the spring. The cast and crew were so friendly, I made lots of friendships that I've been able to maintain after filming ended.

"In fact, lots of them texted me to wish me a happy birthday."

The series tells the story of the Swann family – a sort of Partridge Family for the 21st century.

"My dad in the series is a musician, who falls in love with an American musician. They get married and the two families come together to make one particularly musical step-family," Angus explains.

"All the kids from both sides of the marriage then come together to make a band. My character, Harvey, is particularly into his heavy metal.

"The show is full of music, and despite the fact that it's a kids' series, and is on at 10am on a Saturday morning, I think it really is a genuinely funny sitcom.

"I certainly think that if the audience has as much fun watching as we had making it, then it's bound to be a hit."

* The sitcom My Almost Famous Family is screened on BBC Two, today at 10am.