Ricky Tomlinson has claimed that Richard Whiteley, best known for presenting afternoon gameshow Countdown for more than 20 years, was a member of the intelligence services.

Tomlinson, who appeared alongside Caroline Aherne in sitcom The Royle Family, made the startling claim in an interview with The Chester Chronicle as he opened a Wetherspoons pub in the city.

In 1972, Tomlinson, a former plasterer, helped to organise the first national building workers' strike in the upstairs room of the pub. He was jailed in 1973, along with his "Shrewsbury Two" partner Des Warren, after being found guilty of conspiracy to intimidate, unlawful assembly and affray, following altercations at a construction site in Shrewsbury.

The actor believes that the jury's decision to convict him may have been swayed by an ITV documentary that was aired on the day they retired to deliver their verdict.