TWENTY years after playing Garth Stubbs on Birds of a Feather, actor Matthew Savage now looks completely different.

Matt, 50, was the second actor to star as the mollycoddled son of Tracey played by Loose Women's Linda Robson.

The hit comedy started on the BBC 1989 and ran for nearly a decade before being revived by ITV in 2014.

Matt played Garthy from the second to ninth season of the iconic ITV show before turning his back on acting when he was just 26.

But his acting career lasted almost 20 years, after he got his start playing the Artful Dodger in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist.

It was at his dad's theatre company, Starmaker where he nabbed the iconic role and made some very impressive friends, including Kate Winslet and Christian Bale who were also a part of the same company.

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"Kate was a good friend of mine, because we grew up together and we often played opposite each other in shows like Annie and Jungle Book," Matt said in an interview in 1998.

"We never did anything romantic – although we did have a few snogs when we weren't acting, but back then everyone was kissing everyone."

Matt later appeared alongside Michael Caine in the feature film Without A Clue before landing the role of Garthy in Birds of a Feather.

It was during his eight years on the show that he grew close to his onscreen mum and aunty Sharon, played by Pauline Quirke.

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"They are two of the nicest, funniest people I've ever met. Even now Linda treats me like her son and gives me a clip round the ear if I deserve it," he said.

Matt was replaced by Busted star Matt Willis who is also known as being the husband of TV presenter Emma Willis.

Other actors to play Garthy have included Simon Nash and Samuel James.

Born in Reading, Matt has gone on to have a successful music career and currently plays keyboard with Levellers, a folk rock band formed in 1988.

They played the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury in 1994 and were one of the most popular indie bands of the early 1990s.

Birds of a Feather writer Laurence Marks said the show will never return to TV screens.

The show which made stars of Pauline Quirke and Linda Robson ran for nearly three decades but the 2020 special is now likely to be the last ever episode.

He told the Daily Star: “You move on. I can’t imagine what more we could say. Also, the girls are very much older.

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“When we created Sharon and Tracey, they were kids in their 20s. They had a whole sexual life in front of them and the show was all about sex.

"Now they’re women in their 60s, so it’s a different sort of series.”

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