actor Clive Mantle has claimed he was like an "old water buffalo being brought down by two hyenas" after two Scots allegedly bit off part of his ear in a hotel.

The 56-year-old, best known for his role in television show Casualty and who has also appeared in Game Of Thrones, told a trial at Newcastle Crown Court that during the punch-up in a corridor, drunken Philip McGilvray and Alan French landed "four absolute pearlers" on him.

Mr Mantle, who was staying at the city's Quayside Travelodge when the incident happened, said he was bitten three times in the attack that left him permanently disfigured.

He also said having pinned him to the floor he received three bites to his ear.

"I remember being attacked by two men with every blow they had in their armoury," the actor told the court.

"It was like two hyenas bringing down an old water buffalo. I had one person on each arm.

"I was trying to get rid of them and I was trying to run away. I was completely hamstrung by that."

Mr Mantle had been staying in the hotel for almost a week while working at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, when Mr McGilvray, 33, and Mr French, 32, both from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, began shouting in the corridor last March.

The jury heard that having twice asked the pair to keep quiet, Mr Mantle then tried to force his way through them to get to the hotel reception to complain when they laid into him.

Robin Patton, defending Mr McGilvray, accused the actor of losing his temper and running at the two men.

He said Mr Mantle knocked Mr McGilvray to the ground and ended up on top of him.

"I suggest that you had lost your temper and gone back into your room a bit cross, the noise continues and you go out again and you run at them," he said.

"You took out Philip McGilvray, he did not stand a chance and with your weight you took him to the ground."

In response to the accusations, the actor replied "absolutely not" and said he was "flabbergasted" at Mr Patton's assertions.

Mr Mantle had earlier told jurors that Alice Klenk, his "guardian angel" and a nurse staying at the hotel with her partner, heard the fighting and came out of her room.

She grabbed both defendants by the scruff of the neck to stop them having another go at Mr Mantle, the jury heard. The actor said: "She literally saved me from a lot further damage."

After staggering to his feet, he saw there was blood all over him.

"I looked down on the floor and there was my ear lying on the carpet," he said. "That brings things into focus."

He picked it up with one hand and grabbed one of the men with the other, he said.

"I had my ear in my left hand, I got back to my room and she put it in a glass of water to preserve it, so they would be able to re-attach it.

McGilvray and French deny wounding with intent.

The trial continues.