Television actor Andy Newton-Lee has spoken out about the dangers of sunbeds after a traumatic three months fighting skin cancer.

At one point doctors told the 24-year-old, who played Robbie Flynn in the Channel 4 teenage soap Hollyoaks, that without treatment he could die within a year. The actor, who has also appeared in Coronation Street and Casualty, has blamed the pressure of having to look good for his career for using sunbeds between one and five times a month for years. And now he wants to warn other young people about the dangers.

He said: "I really want to say don't use sunbeds: it's really not worth it. "I hope it will make impressionable 17 and 18-year-olds think twice: it is about time someone spoke out."

Read Andy Newton-Lee's warning about tanning beds at http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1253981.