BLACKADDER star Tony Robinson has joined a campaign to raise nearly £500,000 to renovate a dilapidated church hall.

Mr Robinson, who played Baldrick in the hit BBC comedy and more recently hosted the popular Time Team programme on Channel 4, will visit St Barnabas church in Snakes Lane East next month to talk about his life in theatre and on television.

The former Wanstead High School pupil has agreed to donate the proceeds from the event to the St Barnabas Church Hall Fund, which was set up to raise money to convert the current run-down facility into a state-of-the-art community venue.

The church's new vicar, Rev Graham Sawyer, said the the visit, on Saturday, November 7, promises to be an evening to remember.

He said: "He has very kindly offered to help us raise some of the money we need to repair our church hall which is in a bit of a bad way at the moment.

"He has had an interesting life, so it should be a fascinating talk.

"This is part of a series of ideas we have come up with to help fund the renovation of the hall. Another one is our 'buy a brick' scheme where people can literally invest in the work."

Tickets for Tony Robinson's visit, which cost £12 each, can be bought on the the night - with doors opening at 7.30pm.