Sometimes, when poor little me is tortured by the vicious half-Nelsons, dead legs and ear-twists of my big brother and the poisonous tongue and towel slaps of my big sister, I am forced to get even in any way I can...' So says 11-year-old Alistair Fury - smallest in a family of five, last in line for everything good and first in line for everything bad.

This year his adventures are coming to the small screen in a new comedy series starring Bradford youngster Jonathan Mason.

The Revenge Files of Alistair Fury sees Alistair taking on his family, friends and everyone else in the world on behalf of repressed little brothers everywhere.

The Fury Family live at 47 Atrocity Road in a state of extended chaos. With Alistair lowest in the pecking order and put upon by the whole of his neglectful family, he sets up a secret gang, The Revengers.

From swapping soap for piranha fish and digging a man trap in his bedroom, to filling trainers with dog sick and hypnotising his teachers, Alistair's quest for retribution knows no bounds Based on the popular children's books The War Diaries Of Alistair Fury by Jamie Rix, the new series mixes drama with animation.

Playing Alistair is 11-year old Jonathan, of Odsal, who's fast becoming one of the country's most in-demand child actors. Two years ago he starred with Peter O'Toole in the big screen remake of Lassie and he also starred in Bafta-winning short film Nits and appeared in TV dramas such as The Royal and Vincent opposite Ray Winstone. Over Christmas Jonathan appeared in a TV advert for Thorntons chocolates.

In Alistair Fury Jonathan stars alongside Nigel Planer of Young Ones fame and Drop the Dead Donkey star Susannah Doyle.

Why does Jonathan think Alistair is so dedicated to revenge? "All his family really hate him and his mum and dad are a bit strange, it's really unfair on him," he says. "His teacher is really mean and everyone else is nasty. He just wants to get his own back."

Having an older brother, Jonathan is a little brother himself. Does he sometimes feel like Alistair?

"Sometimes, but not really as bad," says Jonathan. "I never get up to as bad things as Alistair does - but sometimes I'd quite like to!

"The best thing about playing Alistair has been doing all the fun things he does, like playing with the snakes and doing all the revenges. It feels like it's you doing it!"

Jonathan, who attends Idle theatre school Stage 84, says Alistair's most terrible revenge is "shaving his sister's head."

"And stealing his Granny's wig after she went bald wasn't very nice either!" he adds, with a grin.

Jonathan, a pupil at St Bede's School in Heaton, spent last summer filming the series in Newcastle. "I had milk poured over me which stunk and I had pink sick' all over my hair - it was really sticky but it was brilliant!" he says.

The youngster will soon appear on the cover of new editions of the six book titles in The Revenge Files of Alistair Fury series that will be in the shops this month.

Jonathan was handpicked from hundreds of hopefuls by Jamie Rix, who wrote and produced the series.

"We saw 300 boys and Jonathan was the only one we wanted," says Jamie, the son of Mencap chairman and former "King of Farce" Lord Brian Rix. "He was the only boy that made me laugh and he had that mischievous look I wanted. To play Alistair he had to look like he could get away with anything."

The actor/producer/writer, who has worked on such TV shows as Willo the Wisp, Spitting Image, Not the Nine O'Clock News, Alas Smith and Jones and My Hero, reveals he didn't have to look very far from home for inspiration.

"I was the middle child. I had a younger brother, Jonathan, and an older sister, Louisa, and we used to be appalling to each other - but particularly to Jonathan," says Jamie, who also created Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids. "I'd get him to kick me then say he wasn't hurting me because he was so little and pathetic. He got his own back by splitting my head open with a cricket bat.

"Louisa used to hang me out of windows when police cars were going past and whisper that they were coming to take me away. I poured milk over her head when she was going out with a boyfriend, to wreck her date.

"I created Alistair as this slightly tragic figure who believes it's not just his brother and sister who are horrible to him, but that his mum and dad are far too busy with their own careers (or lack of, in Dad's case) to spend any time with him. Alistair thinks he's the most put-upon member of the family."

Did some of the awful revenges actually happen to Jamie and his family?

"Well I've taken them to another level," he laughs. "Some are in there, like the scene where Melanie (Alistair's sister) gets covered in milk before her date. That was one of the highlights of my young life.

"It's the little things I took from my own experience, like Alistair getting less pocket money than his siblings and having to wear their hand-me-down clothes while they get new ones. They're probably things that are recognisable in all families."

  • The Revenge Files of Alistair Fury starts on CBBC on BBC1 on Monday January 7 at 4.30pm.