CREEPY crawlies, insects, bugs - whatever you want to call them, they are generally regarded as an unpleasant nuisance.

But for one student, his fascination with the six-legged creatures could bring him national acclaim.

Bug fanatic Carim Nahaboo, 17, of Oak Hill Crescent, Woodford Green, won a competition to design a creature to appear in ITV science fiction drama Primeval, seeing off more than 5,000 other entries.

His creation, a giant praying mantis, is set to feature in two episodes of the programme and producers were so impressed, he has even been commissioned to do further work for BBC series Crooked House.

Carim said: "I've always liked creatures and monsters. It always used to be dinosaurs and now it's mainly insects.

"It's the way they hunt and the look of them."

Studying art, biology and DT at A-level, he has always enjoyed drawing insects as well as designing his own creatures, taking elements from various species.

He said: "I might take the mouth from one and the legs from another. I try to keep them quite realistic."

He spotted the advert for the competition after watching an episode of the programme and decided to put his talent for drawing to use.

The teenager, who attends Highams Parks School, said: "I've done quite a lot of life drawing and I do a lot of observational work from dead specimens as well.

"They're usually ones I've found and more exotic ones that I've bought and pet ones as well."

Carim added that he also enjoys taking photographs of the bugs and has framed some of the pictures.

He plans to attend an art foundation course at Chelsea College in September and hopes to turn his hobby into a profession.

"I definitely want to do something to do with insects or creature design," Carim said.

As part of his competition win, he was also given a tour of the set and animation studio Framestore, where his creation will be brought to life.

The first appearance of Carim's winning entry will be on Saturday (May 16) and the creature, dubbed "mega opteron", is set to return in episode 10.