Superman star Christopher Reeve is to make a guest appearance in US TV hit Smallville next month, giving advice to a young Clark Kent.

Reeve, who made his name as the mild-mannered reporter with superhero powers in the 1978 film and two sequels, was paralysed from the neck down in a 1995 horse-riding accident.

Smallville, now in its second series, is also about Superman and stars Tom Welling as a teenage Kent, coming to terms with his unusual powers and strength.

Smallville shows in the UK on Channel 4

The youngster is seen coping with the kind of adolescent problems that plague most teenagers - difficulties at school, girlfriend issues and dealing with his over-attentive parents.

The show is expected to air during the "sweeps" ratings period in February - when audiences nationwide are measured to determine future advertising rates.

As part of the deal for him to guest star in Smallville, the WB Network, which broadcasts the series, will run a public service announcement at the end of the episode for the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation.

Reeve has spent about �280,000 a year in medical bills and has been campaigning for medical research into the condition.

Originally, he was determined to be able to walk by his 50th birthday, but that deadline passed in September 2002.

He can now move his fingers and toes again, and last month doctors at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, US, discovered his brain has maintained a near-normal ability to detect feeling and movement.

This suggests that Reeve - and maybe others who have suffered spinal injury - may still be ready to pick up where they left off, should a treatment be found.