WHEN a Hampshire soldier was deployed to Iraq, little did he know his tour of duty would include a starring role in a spoof pop video.

Sergeant Talbot Percy-Bell's face is currently being beamed across television stations and the Internet after he took part in the recreation of a smash-hit comedy music film.

What was supposed to be a morale-boosting end-of-tour stunt has ended up proving so popular that it crashed the Ministry of Defence computer system due to the volume of people wanting to see it.

The hilarious video of British

soldiers marching through a desert base imitating the Peter Kay cover of, (Is This The Way To) Amarillo, has become a media sensation.

Filmed six weeks ago for a leaving party, Sgt Percy-Bell, 37, said his fellow servicemen in the Royal Dragoon Guards had no idea it would become such a massive hit.

"The Peter Kay and Tony Christie song was playing all the time when we were out there, and one lunchtime, towards the end of our tour, someone said we should make a version," he said.

A few days before they left the Al Faw base, the troops decided to make the spoof film so they could screen it to others at their Germany base.

In the video, colleague Staff Sgt Roger Parr takes on the Peter Kay role and marches through the Iraqi camp mimicking the comedian and summoning up fellow soldiers along the way.

During the video, Sgt Percy-Bell appears at his side carrying crates of soft drinks.

Renaming it Is This The Way To Armadillo? after the desert creature seen in Iraq, Sgt Percy-Bell said it only took 15 mintues to perform.

Speaking from his Botley home, Sgt Percy-Bell said: "I told my wife about it and she just said 'Why on earth did you do that?'

"But when people I know saw it they told me they thought it was really good."

"None of us thought anyone would see it because it was just a bit of a laugh for all of us, so seeing it on television and in the paper was a big surprise."

There seems to be little chance of the new-found fame going to the father-of-four's head after he admitted: "I've seen it so many times now I'm actually getting sick of it."

The MoD system has now recovered. A spokesman said: "The soldiers maintaining their morale on operations is always important. The fact that it proved so popular in the office and caused the system to crash is unfortunate, but this did not affect operations and the system is up and running again."