He may be utterly fake and hopelessly wooden but celebrity schoolboy Archie Andrews still has a legion of fans.

The dummy, star of Fifties radio show Educating Archie, is being brought back to life by Eastbourne-based ventriloquist Stevie Hewlett.

In his heyday, Archie commanded audiences of 16 million, including royalty, until the advent of television in the Sixties.

At the last count his fan club still had about 250,000 members.

The show helped launch the careers of Tony Hancock, Bruce Forsythe and Benny Hill and people were so convinced Archie was real, the Inland Revenue Service sent him a letter asking him to pay Income Tax.

Stevie, 31, of Eastbourne Road, has been working with Archie's new owner, fan Colin Burnett-Dick of Blackboys, near Uckfield.

Colin bought Archie for £34,000 at auction last year following the death of ventriloquist Peter Brough in 1999.

He has asked Mr Brough's family whether they mind Archie being put back on the stage and they have raised no objections.

Now Colin and Stevie have finished a first draught of the new show, a play called Re-Educating Archie.

It will feature Archie coming back to life in the year 2007 and finding out what has happened to the stars who used to appear on his show.

Characters such as Bruce Forsyth and Benny Hill will be played by impersonators and the show will include a recreation of one of Archie's shows.

Stevie, who usually performs at hotels, cruise ships and holiday camps around Britain, was pleased to have scooped the role of Archie's new ventriloquist.

He said: "I've been a ventriloquist since I was 12 and next year I'll have been a professional for ten years.

"I've got a few characters in my show but they're all a lot more modern than Archie. One of them is Pongo the Skunk, who used to belong to Keith Harris.

"To me this is a huge opportunity, it's an honour to be asked to work with Archie. He still has so many fans.

"We will be trying to get across the story of Archie's career and what happened to Peter Brough and the other stars of the show.

"He will be asking me questions and I'll be asking him questions."

He said he had already mastered Archie's voice and was comfortable working the dummy.

He said: "Basil Brush and Kermit the Frog are already making comebacks so I think now is a good time to bring back Archie.

"In ten or 15 years some of the people in his fan club won't be here anymore. It might be too late.

Colin hopes to use the shows to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital and children's charities.

He said: "Archie will be the same cheeky schoolboy people remember from the Fifties, with the same voice and mannerisms, but his partner will be a new friend. We are not trying to recreate Peter Brough."

The pair are talking to producers about taking on the show and hope to be ready to tour by November 2007.