Whether their favourite characters are in The Simpsons, Gummy Bears or Rescue Rangers, most kids love watching cartoons.

In fact, watching these animations in the morning as mum treats herself to a much-needed cup of coffee is as common an activity for children as reading bedtime stories.

Yet what most kids have never experienced is tuning into their favourite cartoon and hearing the sound of their own voice boom out of the telly a phenomenon experienced by Matthew Thomas Davies this week, as he watched the first UK episode of Higglytown Heroes.

"It was a bit strange," admits ten-year-old Matthew, who plays the voice of the character Kip in the cartoon.

Higglytown Heroes helps to teach children the important roles played by everyday heroes, such as firemen and policemen.

Through problem-solving, friendship and demonstration, the excitable character Kip and his four friends Wayne, Twinkle, Eubie and the wise Fran the squirrel, learn more about the good work done by these heroes.

"When it came to choosing the roles for heroes, we used jobs that pre-schoolers would encounter in their daily lives. An everyday hero is a good way to explain to the young audience how the community works and how everyone plays an important part in everyday life," says Andrea Dinnick, programming manager for Playhouse Disney Channel.

So rather than travel to his school every morning, Matthew has been spending the last few weeks travelling to a studio in London where he talks and sings in front of a microphone.

"It's quite a small microphone," says Matthew, "and I do not see much of the kids who are playing the other Higglies because we all record on separate days."

Travelling to London every day and missing school lessons may sound like an opportunity to have fun, but for Matthew it's all part of his job as a young actor.

The ten-year-old has been a student at the Jackie Palmer Stage School since he was four years old and, judging on his current success, has a promising career ahead of him.

He has also starred in the TV drama Distant Shores playing Peter Davison's fantasist son, and he has appeared in Redcap which starred Tamzine Outhwaite, as well as a handful of radio and theatre productions.

"He's all things to all people," points out Marylyn Phillips of Jackie Palmer Stage School.

"He can play many different parts and is very bright, so that when he reads scripts he is able to make sense of them. He takes direction very well as he is able to follow the instructions of the director with an understanding of what is needed."

And as Matthew reveals, playing the bubbly character Kip can sometimes be quite a challenge if he is not in the right mood.

"If I am a bit tired and not feeling like being very energetic its harder because Kip seems to always be excited."

But when Matthew is feeling just as bright as Kip, he enjoys doing lots of fun things such as making weird sound effects and singing.

"Once I had to be a robot and it sounded like this: I-a-m-a-r-o-b-o-t,'" says Matthew as he describes his favourite sound effect.

"And the tunes I sing are very catchy.".

On finishing Higglytown Heroes, Matthew will be preparing to begin his next project in another series of Distant Shores.

Higgleytown Heroes is on the Playhouse Disney Channel every weekday at 8am, 10.20am, 2.50pm and and 6pm.