I'M chatting to a man dressed as a bathtub, with rubber ducks hanging from his ears. And it's all perfectly normal...because this is Christopher Biggins, in full Widow Twankey costume, .

Biggins stars alongside Billy Pearce and Blue singer Simon Webbe in this year's Alhambra pantomime. He was last in panto here 30 years ago, with the Krankies.

"The Alhambra is wonderful, in my opinion it's among the top three theatres in the country, and is the home of panto," says Biggins. "I'm delighted to be back. I've never worked with Billy, but I've known him years."

Having played the Dame in panto for 40 years, Biggins has no time for theatrical snobbery. "People in our business poo-poo panto, which I think is unfair because we're a breeding ground for theatre," he says. "If they enjoy panto, children will come back to the theatre and even get involved in it.

"Pantomime is a skill. You need tremendous energy because you have to give 100 per cent all the time. When Sir Ian McKellen played Widow Twankey at the Old Vic he came to me for advice. Hugh Grant, who's a friend of mine, saw me in panto last year and loved it. He'd make a great Dame."

So what does being a great Dame involve? "She is everyone's favourite sister, aunt, gran - she's loveable and a friend," says Biggins. "I'm quite traditional; principal boys are played by men now, because they like a hero. Simon will be brilliant, of course, but I still prefer a woman in that role. All that thigh-slapping," he chuckles, trotting out an old panto joke I can't repeat in a family newspaper.

Born in Oldham, Biggins grew up in Salisbury and joined local drama groups as a child, and later repertory theatre."Rep is a fantastic start because it's so varied. When I was at Salisbury Rep there was a director, Oliver Gordon, who was the panto dame every year and he inspired me, although I didn't know it at the time. I'd never thought about panto, and I was only about 27, so when he saw potential in me and offered me panto I was insulted. Eventually I realised what a wonderful theatrical experience it is. Children's concentration is so limited, and there's so much choice for them now, but panto keeps enchanting them."

Over the years he has done drama, comedy, TV presenting, reality TV - he's been King of the Jungle on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here - and his effervescence has landed him a place in the nation's hearts. We know him so well as the guffawing TV personality in a loud suit it's easy to forget he's an accomplished actor. An early screen appearance was in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Richard O'Brien's cult homage to the 1950s B-movie. "We Transylvanians got £10 a week. It was a blast," he says. TV roles include Lukewarm, one of Norman Stanley Fletcher's prison pals in Porridge and I, Claudius, playing Nero, and his theatrical credits include Sondheim's Side by Side and the Royal Shakespeare Company's London Assurance with Judi Dench.

Will he do more drama?"I find learning lines difficult as I get older, so no," he says. "I will be celebrating my 70th birthday while I'm at the Alhambra." Any wild parties? "Who knows?" he beams. "But I look after myself. It's panto, after all."

He bids goodbye with a showbiz kiss. It's not until an hour or so later that I realise I still have the lipstick mark on my cheek.

* Aladdin opens at the Alhambra on Saturday, December 8 and runs until Sunday, January 20. Call (01274) 432000.