BIBS and babygrows might be familiar presents for Prince William and Kate Middleton, but their old university friend Jules Knight is planning on posting a more unusual gift to the royal couple.

Knight, who was friends with the expectant pair while they were students at St Andrews University, is about to make his first appearance as womanising doctor Harry Tressler in BBC1 medical soap Holby City. And he has just the thing for his old friends who, he says, were down to earth, normal people.

“I somehow doubt that they are fans of medical dramas, but if I can get hold of the Holby box set, maybe I’ll send it to them,” says Knight. “If they see me [on TV], I’m sure they’ll say, ‘We used to know that guy’.”

Knight, 31, was a founding member of the all-male vocal group Blake, made up of old friends, who formed after reuniting over Facebook.

With UK and worldwide tours behind him, countless TV appearances, plus charity performances at William’s grandmother’s house – Buckingham Palace to the rest of us – it is likely that William and Kate will not be the only viewers who recognise baritone Knight.

The band, who won the Classic Brit Award in 2008 for their eponymous debut album, found fame with classical covers of hits such as U2’s With Or Without You and Up Where We Belong.

Knight left the group at the start of this year after six years and four studio albums, but he is still on good terms with his old bandmates.

“Blake wish me the best,”

says Knight. “I’ve known one of them since I was seven years old. I was not able to give them as much notice as I would have liked, but they have been really supportive and I hope they go on to great success without me.”

Singing is still a big passion for Knight, but the former drama school pupil was itching to start learning lines again. “I left drama school in 2007 and I really started to miss acting,” he says.

“I was singing between the ages of seven to 13 and when I got into my next school, I started acting. I realised I wanted to be an actor. It was something I had to do.”

His Holby character, Harry, is a bit of an attention-seeker.

Knight says: “He’s a talented doctor and charming with people, but he can be quite manipulative and arrogant and he has a bit of an eye for the ladies. He is the kind of guy you will love to hate. Harry is quite like me in terms of background, age and relationship with his father, so I feel I am equipped to take him on.”

While the world of privilege was familiar enough for Knight, who went to the private Pilgrims’ School in Winchester, Harry’s profession initially left him a little anxious.

He says: “I was worried how I would be with blood and guts, but it turns out I was fine with it all.

“I have such an admiration for people who do that job. I watched abdominal surgery – a laparotomy – and I saw some pretty nasty, gruesome stuff that I can’t talk about. But I loved my time in hospital.”

He has even found some willing singing partners among his new colleagues.

“It’s a core of four singers who sing together on set,” Knight says. “We mainly sing songs from Singin’ In The Rain. I am pretty sure we are becoming those people that you see or hear on the bus and hope that they get off.”