GRANDAD Mehmood Sultan is looking forward to a star-studded New Year.

The Bradford cabbie, who has a second career as an actor, has just returned from filming in Pakistan – where he is treated like a superstar.

The 64-year-old, of Chellow Dene, has been in Lahore filming an episode of a new tele-drama, Taj War, with director Sohail Qamer and well-known Pakistani actor Mahbub Sultan and Canadian actors Shamyl Khan and Arbenita Ferizi.

He spent two weeks filming on location for two pilot episodes of the show that will be screened next year, along with a teaser trailer.

The series will have 26 episodes in all and will be shown on PTV, said Mr Sultan.

He plays the eponymous role of a father, a good, religious man who is well-respected in his village. He has a well-behaved son studying in Germany but has problems with a wild, trouble-making son in Pakistan.

Earlier this year he spent four days filming for Taj War with a crew in Freiburg, Germany.

“I am very happy. I have lots of work. I had a good time filming in Pakistan and was very well-treated. Wherever we went people would come and meet me,” said Mr Sultan, who has become a dab hand at signing autographs.

The Taj War opportunity, his biggest yet, came hot on the heels of his latest character part in a comedy called Actor In Law, which was shot in Pakistan and made it to UK cinema screens this Eid.

He played the part of a judge and was seen in courtroom action lasting about eight minutes across the movie.

Mr Sultan, who has also worked as a security guard, said TV drama and film work in the pipeline for 2017 includes a tele-film that will be shot here in the UK.

The New Year will also see the screening on Pakistan TV of another tele-film he has just made, about a father who threw acid in his daughter’s face only to discover he had been wrong to believe hearsay about her behaviour and is so distraught that he kills himself.

Since the 1970s Mr Sultan has been in countless other dramas and films, including DCI Banks.

He was also in a recently-released, locally-filmed drama called Bakra (Sheep) Online and last year had a part in a movie called Welcome to Karachi, which was shot at various locations across Bradford.

“Wherever I go I like to tell people I’m from Bradford. For my next film, the crew will come here,” he said.