A MENTAL health charity has been chosen as the beneficiaries of an ambitious campaign to get a hit 1980s pop song by legendary Chester comedian Russ Abbot to the Christmas number one slot.

University Radio Nottingham presenters George Scotland and Damian Stephen are behind the "absurd" bid to get Abbot's novelty track 'Atmosphere' to the top spot ahead of heavyweight contenders like Liam Gallagher, Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande.

The duo – whose campaign has been backed by musician and comedian Abbot – says there is no better way to end such a difficult year than getting a novelty pop song to Christmas number one.

Atmosphere, which is Abbot's biggest hit single, was released back in 1984 and peaked at number seven in the charts the following year.

The Russ Abbot's Atmosphere For Christmas No1 2020 Twitter page posted earlier today: "We are pleased to announce we shall be supporting Mind charity as our chosen charity for this campaign.

"It has been an incredibly tough year for everyone and we believe this was the most appropriate choice. Mr Russ Abbot himself will redistribute the royalties to Mind."

George and Damian are urging as many people as possible to stream and download the song as much as they can between December 18 and Christmas Eve.

The campaign is now gathering pace with the song getting air time on BBC Radio Nottingham and locally being strongly backed on social media by The Chester Blog @S***Chester.

Abbot's grandson Laine Roberts has thanked everyone who has supported the campaign so far and said the family was right behind the boys.

He added: "They shouldn't know the song but they're absolutely loving it!"