Johnny Vegas, the comedian who starred in ITV Digital's much-loved 'monkey and Al' campaign, is threatening to sue the advertising agency behind the ads for money he claims he is owed.
Vegas' lawyers have written to Mother demanding the agency honour his contract - even though it has not been paid for its work for the now-defunct broadcaster.
The TV comic and his woollen monkey sidekick shot to fame as a result of the adverts, which turned Vegas into a household name.
But Vegas says he is still owed "a lot of money" for doing the campaign - although it is not clear whether he is a creditor of the collapsed ITV Digital.
"I'm owed quite a lot of money, but I'm under contract not to bring them [ITV Digital] into disrepute, so if I slag them off they can say it's null and void," he told the Radio Times.
"I hate going to court, but we're talking about it now," he added.
Vegas started his career as a stand-up comic. His TV credits include the BBC2 comedy series Happiness, in which he starred alongside Paul Whitehouse, and the quiz show Shooting Stars.
He also features in Night Class, a new five-part comedy series on Radio 4.
Mother declined to comment on the legal action.
