HAMPSHIRE captain Shane Warne makes his TV acting debut this week.

Never one to shy away from the spotlight, the spin bowler is to make a cameo appearance in Aussie soap Neighbours.

Shane will be hoping there is no such thing as bad publicity when he makes his long-awaited acting debut playing himself.

The scenes will be aired in Australia this Thursday, but are not expected to hit UK screens for a while because of an approximate six-week time delay.

The appearance centres around a storyline linked with children's charity the Shane Warne Foundation.

"It is great Ramsay Street has got behind the Shane Warne Foundation to help raise money for seriously ill and underprivileged kids in Australia," the Hampshire skipper said.

Neighbours veteran Tom Oliver, who grew up in Fareham before moving down under, has played wheeler-dealer Lou for 15 years.

He said that the leg spinner, who split with his wife last year amid claims of an affair, was a "nice guy" who "didn't seem camera shy at all."

"It's hard to talk about him without making double entendres," Oliver quickly added.

"I followed him around the rest of the day hoping he'd drop his little black book, but he didn't."