A WELL-KNOWN Wiltshire comic has won a BBC sketch competition as part of a double act not seen for more than 15 years.

Jon Monie, known for his presenting work on ITV West and as a Bath pantomime regular, reformed his Avent and Monie act with schoolfriend Graham Avent to record an entry.

The pair’s 15-second sketch, entitled The Drop, is one of the five best entries posted on the BBC3 website as part of their Funny in 15 competition.

The sketch was filmed at Freshford and features a wicked take on the game of Poohsticks.

“It was Jon’s idea which we had years ago when we were doing our little double act,” said Graham, who lives in Corsham.

Jon, who was born in Bradford on Avon and now lives in Holt, went on to a career in television and theatre after the Avent and Monie double act disbanded in the mid-1990s. “Graham got a proper job and I didn’t”, said Jon, who continued with the act while he was at university in London and Graham was a student in Manchester.

Graham worked in the car industry and is now at the Bath Vet Group. It was his wife Helen who spotted the competition and suggested he should contact Jon.

The duo originally formed in 1989 while they were both at King Edward’s School in Bath, and appeared on Richard and Judy having won ITV’s This Morning Young Comedy Writer and Performer Award in 1993.

They produced 17 sketches for the competition which together have been viewed almost 6,000 times on Youtube on their aventandmonie1 channel. There is no single winner, but BBC3 are preparing The Drop to be shown as a ‘sting’ between programmes.

The Avent and Monie reunion may not be a one-off either, as the pair are thinking of performing a stage show for local theatres in the near future.