Comic Johnny Vegas is not known to Harry Secombe's family

There was strong speculation that Johnny Vegas had been picked to play Sir Harry in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, currently being shot in London.

But Sir Harry's brother, retired vicar Fred Secombe, has admitted that he has never heard of Vegas, 31.

"I've never heard of him," said Mr Secombe, 83, who lives in Cardiff.

However, a spokesman for BBC Films later denied that Vegas had been given the role.

But whoever plays him, Sir Harry's brother will be happy to see his sibling - who died from prostate cancer in 2001 aged 79 - represented on the big screen.

Harry Secombe became a comic legend with the Goons

"I was very pleased when I first heard about the film in November," said Mr Secombe.

"I will be looking forward to seeing it and think it will be a great show."

Shine actor Geoffrey Rush and Charlize Theron will take the roles of Sir Harry's Goons colleague Sellers and one-time wife Britt Ekland.

John Lithgow co-stars as director Blake Edwards and supermodel Sophie Dahl will play Ursula Andress, with whom Sellers is alleged to have had an affair.

Turbulent

The film is set in the 60s, just after Sellers and Ekland's marriage.

Sellers and his wife had a famously turbulent relationship and were divorced after four years of marriage.

Sellers, best known for his role as bungling Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther films, died in 1980.

The film is based on Peter Sellers' life

The Life and Death of Peter Sellers is based on a 1994 book by Roger Lewis about Sellers.

A spokesman for BBC films said the film has a significant story to tell because Sellers is "an important part of our cultural heritage."

Secombe, born in Swansea, was a founding member of the Goons and was regarded by many as a comic genius.

The Goon Show was first broadcast in 1949, and enjoyed a nine-year run.

Sir Harry also appeared on TV as a singer, actor and presenter of religious TV programmes.

He was forced to retire through ill-health in 1999.