Teenage star lands soap role

Teenage Shropshire heart-throb Pax Baldwin will be giving up his clean-cut image for a more gritty role in a daytime television soap this week.

He will appear in an episode of the BBC1 series Doctors on Friday at 1.45pm.

Pax, 16, began his journey to stardom as a young child with Telford Stage School, in Dawley, run by his parents Ash and Lee Baldwin. After appearing in West End musicals including Oliver!, Whistle Down The Wind, King and I, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Les Miserables, he moved into films.

He is now a worldwide TV star due to his role of Reece in Disney Television's As the Bell Rings and his appearance in the 2007 Disney Channel games.

Earlier this year, Pax came closer to home by spending a week in Birmingham filming an episode of Doctors. The plot of the show, titled All In A Name, centres around Pax's role as Bradley Finch, a typical teenage boy.

Pax said: "It was great to play Bradley as it's unusual for me to play a gritty role. We filmed on set in the middle of winter and plenty of layers of clothes were called for. The cast made me really welcome, even inviting me to play in their five-a-side football match."

Pax has fans all over the world with a myspace page - www.myspace.com/paxbaldwin - that is just about to top 100,000 visitors. He has also turned some of his attention to the music scene, last year releasing a single on iTunes.