Could he fix it? Yes, he could!

Bob the Builder, created by Basildon-born Keith Chapman, has edged ahead of bad boy rapper Eminem to take the number one slot in the nation's pop charts.

Keith, 42, hopes the record Can We Fix It? will stay at the top for another week to make it the much-coveted Christmas number one.

He said: "It's fantastic. Who could have thought Bob's song would become that popular? I watched Top of the Pops on Friday and I'm sure the video will have helped it - people must have thought 'that looks a laugh, I'll buy it'."

On the video, children's TV character Bob is seen impersonating Liam Gallagher of Oasis. Neil Morrisey, of Men Behaving Badly fame, sings out Bob's catchphrase: "Can we fix it? Yes, we can."

Former Echo delivery boy Keith said: "I heard Neil, who does the voice for Bob on the series, talking to Jonathan Ross on Radio 2 and he said the record had gone gold, which means something like 500,000 copies have been sold.

"I thought Westlife would have beaten Bob...or even the Tweenies."

Keith added: "It's great to see my character do so well. In the last week I've had a brilliant 42nd birthday, seen my character reach number one in the charts, moved to a lovely new home in London and now it's Christmas. It's fantastic!"

What a star! Keith with his creation Bob the Builder

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.