HE might be remembered as the anarchic character in TV shows The Young Ones and Bottom, but actor Ade Edmondson is now using his talents to promote a Sussex charity.

The comedian is to present a BBC television appeal on behalf of Impact – a charity based in Haywards Heath dedicated to preventing and treating disability around the world.

Watch Edmondson tell the story of the Lifeline Express, Impact's hospital train in India. The train takes medical care and surgery to impoverished men, women and children who would otherwise be unable to afford treatment and remain needlessly disabled for life.

Edmondson said: “Impact have devised innovative ways of bringing life-changing treatment and surgery to disadvantaged people all over the world. Whether it’s a hospital train travelling the length and breadth of India; a floating hospital sailing the rivers of Bangladesh; or a tented operating theatre on the mountain sides of Nepal.

"The thing I like most about Impact is that it’s so straightforward. They take easily curable disabilities, like cataracts and cleft palate, and they fix them on the spot. And this transforms people’s lives.

“It's a brilliant charity on a mission to alleviate disability by some really extraordinary means.”

An example of the work the charity carries out is Manohar, a father of three, blinded by cataracts for 17 years. He knew there was a simple surgical fix but he was too poor to afford it.

The BBC film shows surgeons not only giving him back his sight, but also the ability to support his family.

Impact has other means to reach people without access to healthcare – such as a floating hospital which travels the rivers of Bangladesh and a sterile tented operating theatre, which serves the mountainous regions of Nepal.

The average cost to Impact of restoring sight, hearing or mobility or providing surgery to repair cleft lip to another person is £40.

The charity said funds are urgently needed to transform more lives.

Judi Stagg, Impact's chief executive, said: “Impact never pays for expensive advertising so having Ade on board is a fabulous opportunity for us to reach a new audience.”

The appeal is aired on BBC One tomorrow at 5pm.

For more information visit impact.org.uk