Television comedian has lent his support to a campaign to save Harrow Arts Centre.

British stand-up comedian and actor Romesh Ranganathan has backed plans to transform the site into a "Southbank Centre for North London" in a new video released this week.

In the 43-second video, the star of Live At the Apollo said: "Support the arts centre, they need your help, they need your funding to keep it open."

Mr Ranganathan spoke to camera to make a personal message to people in Harrow and the surrounding areas, and to his fans and supporters, with a rallying call to raise the money for Harrow Arts Centre to continue the “great tradition” of culture at the project.

Fresh from appearing in BBC 1’s Question Time, Mr Ranganathan played to a full house at the centre last weekend.

When he signed off his show he said: "There are great new things coming here and it is really important that you support them. I want to come back to here next year and see it all.

"Thanks for having me Harrow. Love you."

Cultura London is raising funds to modernise the arts centre and make it financially successful by building a cinema, art galleries, cafes, bars and a new larger theatre to compliment the site's historic Elliott Hall.

Harrow Arts Centre faced closure when Harrow Council announced that it could no longer afford its £500,000 annual subsidy.

It remained open after the council handed over the service to charitable trust Cultura London, but some £3.5 million needs to be raised to secure its future and begin the redevelopment.

More than £2 million of the funding will need to come from grants, which will then trigger a £1 million loan from Harrow Council.

But the rest of the money is being raised in the community.

So far the campaign has raised more than £30,000 towards phase one of the project, which will be to demolish some of the temporary buildings at the site and build the cinema.

Cultura London interim chief executive Sandra Bruce-Gordon said: “Romesh is one of a growing number of national figures endorsing this important cultural project and we truly value this support."

Mr Ranganathan's video can be viewed on the Harrow Arts Centre YouTube channel.