'Nerve-wracking but great to play hometown'

One of the stars of Only Fools and Horses The Musical says he is nervous, but looking forward, to playing his home city.

Phil Childs is set to play Grandad in the stage show, which comes to The Regent Theatre in Hanley this week following a West End run.

He said he had only performed hometown gigs in Stoke-on-Trent twice before and hoped to see family and friends in the audience.

“I’ve been looking forward to this ever since I knew I was doing the job - in the last 24 hours I’ve suddenly gotten really nervous about it,” he said.

Childs was born in Burslem and later lived in "wonderful places" like Fegg Hayes and Chell Heath.

He said he regularly returned to Stoke-on-Trent for football.

"I love the canals, I love the buildings, I love the beer – there’s a warm feeling, you’re always welcome here I think."

Childs described the role, which he is sharing on rotation with Paul Whitehouse, as a "joy".

"Obviously the material is gold dust – so stepping into those slippers, to play Grandad, is fantastic."

He added: "We said all along we don’t want to do impressions of these people but you want to get an essence of the character.

"Everyone knows Grandad even though he was only in it for three seasons, he made such a mark on the series."

Childs is joined by Sam Lupton who plays Del Boy, aka Derek Trotter, and who described the show as a “love letter” to the original BBC TV series.

"I don’t think I’ve ever done a show actually where the laughs-a-minute, if there was a rate, is so high," he said.

He said the stage show was based around two classic episodes - a Christmas special called Dates and another episode where Cassandra meets Rodney.

Tom Major, who plays Rodney, said it was surreal to have been given the role and revealed he had not watched the TV series before before being cast in the stage version.

The show runs until Saturday.

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