To be held captive for five years in various cellars by Muslim fanatics is pretty unpleasant but at least it is one of the few places where one can escape the torturous bleeping of the ubiquitous mobile phone.

Former Beirut hostage John McCarthy, who during his captivity must have fantasised about punching the digits on one of these ghastly devices, had plenty of time to ponder the benefits of portable electronic communication. Now McCarthy is to feature in a British television campaign for British mobile phone company Mercury One2One.

Filming has just been completed in the Scottish Highlands and the commercials will come to TV screens next month. A spokesman for Mercury was unwilling to reveal the storyline but it is speculated that the advertisement will humorously emphasise the benefits of the mobile as a means of escaping from those sticky situations that life invariably throws up from time to time. No man better qualified for the job.