A young performer has won a part in a new BBC comedy series.

Dogan Mehmet, 17, is to feature as the sketch show son of Iranian comic Omid Djalili.

The teenager from Moulsecoomb, Brighton, will appear in the last sketch in the first episode of the series, due to air on BBC1 tonight (saturday) at 9.30pm.

He will also be in the last episode.

Djalili is only the second non-white comedian in Britain to get his own TV show with his name in the title. His comedy took off after 9/11, when he said people started to cancel his gigs because they did not want an Iranian performer. This, he says, gave him the drive to succeed as a comic and he went on to huge acclaim at Edinburgh, sell-out national tours and appearances on Channel 4 and in Whoopi Goldberg's US TV show.

His own series opens with the joke: "An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman walk into a pub. "To you, itís a joke. To an Iranian, itís a hostage situation."

Dogan, whose parents are Turkish Cypriots, got the part through his agency, Jackie Palmer in High Wycombe, which also represents young actors who have appeared in Eastenders and children's TV including CITV's My Parents are Aliens.

Dogan was chosen for the series because of his resemblance to the award-winning stand-up star.

Dogan said: "I got it mainly because we look so alike.

"The show has got lots of running gags through the whole series. One is his son keeps popping up in weird places. I get established as his London cockney Turkish son and he is a Hollywood kebab shop owner."

The next time Dogan appears is when Djalili is playing Danny Chicago, an Iranian detective.

The first sketch is done entirely in song.

Luckily Dogan is a talented musician and singer who recently gained a place in the final for the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award. He is one of only six young people chosen to perform at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in South Bank, London. The show will be broadcast on Radio 2 on December 7 at 7.30pm.

Dogan also plays a bit of guitar, bass, melodium and percussion. He says his style combines traditional English and Turkish music.

He said: "I have come up with this new niche of being a young, modern gypsy. It is my split culture. I reckon I am the first Turkish Morris dancer. It is a way of bringing the two cultures I have together."

Dogan works on Saturdays at Clifford's motor parts shop in School Road, Hove and says his boss Bernard Clifford has been very supportive of his career. He is currently studying music technology and production at Northbrook College, Worthing and will complete his course in April. He wants to study folk or popular music in Leeds or Newcastle.

He said: "I'd love to be a musician for a living and try to break down boundaries and reach people who don't normally listen to folk music."

Dogan started his performing career with Brighton Theatre Group aged 11. He recently performed and was interviewed for an hour-long show on Rocket FM in Lewes. Tomorrow night he will play a gig with his folk trio Too Many Strings at the Lewes Arms at 7.30pm.