Fingers crossed for success, Derek Bell and daughter, Sarah, who are going on the Generation Game

A father and daughter from York are bridging the generation gap by appearing on one of television's longest-running and best-loved television programmes.

Derek Bell, 52, and Sarah Stones, 26, are travelling to London to be the stars of the show in BBC1's Generation Game.

Derek, from Teal Drive, Acomb, said: "It was my daughter who sent off for an application form. They asked us to an audition at the Viking Moathouse, in York, and then we were told we were being short-listed.

"When I heard we were going to be on the programme, I was a bit sceptical at first, but now I'm really looking forward to it."

At the audition, the father and daughter team had to do everything from pretending to do household chores to acting in a scenario.

"It was great fun," said Derek. "I had to pretend to be someone who had just discovered gold after searching in the mountains for 30 years.

"The actual filming is in a couple of weeks but we don't know what we will be doing until we get there."

Derek's family are no strangers to the spotlight, however.

His father is Councillor Bernard Bell, who was Lord Mayor of York from 1992 to 1993 and who was twice Sheriff of York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.