Night reader: Hasselhoff's CBeebies gig

Former Baywatch star and Britain's Got Talent judge David Hasselhoff will help children off to sleep on New Year's Eve by reading a book for the CBeebies Bedtime Story Series.

The actor will be joining Lulu, Emilia Fox and Sir Derek Jacobi on the roster of bedtime story readers over the festive period, the BBC said.

Hasselhoff will read Jo Hodgkinson's My Friend Nigel about a boy called Billy who rescues a snail to be used in his parent's spells.

"As a child I used to love reading 'Twas The Night Before Christmas and I can still recite all the words today," he told the BBC.