THREE actors stood their ground in Hampton Wick last Friday and refused to move from a hole that had been dug in preparation for an O2 phone mast.

Workmen made a start on the proposed site last Thursday, by the bridge outside Hampton Wick train station and residents soon leapt into action.

At 7am the next day, protesters braved the bitter weather and prevented the workmen from continuing.

Actor Michael Melia, best known as Eastenders' pub landlord Eddie Royal, said: "They wanted to put a 40ft mast here, for only a quarter of a mile radius - which has three schools in it. Hampton Wick has a lot of children and no one wants a mast here. O2 say there's no proof of health risks but there's no proof that they don't exist either, and that's our main objection.

"They've tried to tell us that we need better reception here, but no one is complaining of any problems. Hampton Wick is just a little place at the end of the borough, but 800 people signed a petition against this."

An O2 representative arrived on the scene last Friday and tried to coax the men out of the hole by promising to only lay the base for the mast. "He desperately hoped we would move on, but I made it clear we would stay as long as necessary - even through the night," added Mr Melia.

But by 2pm the stand-off reached a conclusion and the O2 representative agreed to fill the hole back in and get the location reconsidered.

The three successful protesters are accustomed to being in the limelight. As well as his Eastenders role, Michael Melia starred as DI Frank Dagley in Dangerfield'. He was accompanied in the hole last Friday by Tom Georgeson, who starred in Juliet Bravo, Liverpool One and the 2004 film The Reckoning and Aran Bell, who appeared in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - the 1996 film of Anne Bronte's novel. This week, Mr Melia said: "The paving stones were put back in place on Tuesday and we're absolutely thrilled. It was a very cold day to sit about in a hole, but it's been well worth it. O2 seem to have listened to our point of view."