'Cheers' actor joins 'Green Green Grass'

Cheers star George Wendt is to appear in the Green Green Grass Christmas special.

The 59-year-old - barfly Norm Peterson in the award-winning US sitcom - will play an ex-GI searching for his children in Boycie's home village, where he was billeted in the 1970s.

A BBC spokeswoman told The Sun: “The writer John Sullivan got to know George and the Cheers cast in the 1980s when the US version of his comedy Citizen Smith was being filmed in the studio next door.”

Sue Holderness, who plays Boycie’s wife Marlene in the show, described Wendt as a "dream to work with", saying: "He was just brilliant. He plays an American Cliff Cooper who was billeted in Boycie’s home in the 1970s. He had loads of affairs then and he decides to come back to see if he fathered any sprogs in the village.

“Cliff has become very rich in the intervening years and Marlene gets extremely excited having him about but nothing happens between them. Boycie doesn’t like him because he’s a Yank, until he discovers that he is very wealthy.”

Speaking about June Whitfield's role as Marlene’s mum Dora in the new series, she added: "June is a heroine of mine. She’s an icon. She is 82 now but she is still so enthusiastic. She’s in two episodes and hopefully if there’s a fourth series will appear even more.”

The third series of Green Green Grass airs from November 2 on BBC One.