A MAN from Loughton thought to have one of the largest collections of film and TV memorabilia in Europe has vowed to sell most of it off after his story featured on an auction programme.

David Limburg, 43, has spent more than three decades collecting around 300,000 toys, props and other merchandise from iconic cultural series such as the Star Wars and James Bond films, Thunderbirds, Batman, Star Trek and countless other hits.

Mr Limburg, who works for a medical recruitment firm, is well-know on the memorabilia circuit and was approached by the Home freeview channel to star in their series Gutted.

During the show, hoarders must correctly answer questions about their beloved possessions or face them being put under the hammer at auction.

“My collection means so much to me, some people dismiss it just as a bunch of toys, but it's more than that,” he said.

“It's the thrill of the chase. I will spend a lot of money and time tracking something but I have to say most of it gets stored away and I don't see it again for years.”

Mr Limburg's enormous collection, which he estimates could be worth up to a quarter of a million pounds, is safely locked away in a secure location, which programme-makers spent two-months sifting through to find items to grill him on.

“It was quite an unusual day,” he said.

“Some of the questions were really tough, but I got quite a few of them right, but unfortunately I did get some wrong.”

During a tense few hours at Stamford Showground at the weekend, Mr Limburg saw around 50 pieces of his collection sold off, but one of his most valuable items, a piece of coal recovered from the wreck of the Titanic, failed to sell.

“I think it was just a bit too expensive for the people there. It cost more than most people's salaries when I first bought it,” he said.

The programme finished with a tie-breaking finale, in which presenter Mark Durden-Smith offered to give back Mr Limburg his most prized possession – a rare 24 carat gold replica of James Bond's Aston Martin - as long as he pledged to try and sell the rest of his collection in future.

“There was no contest, I agreed to do it, althought I will keep collecting. Selling things and then buying new items is part of the process – you have to feed your habit somehow,” he added.

The programme is earmarked to be broadcast in the first few weeks of January.