BEFORE Ian Lavender began sharing his memories with the Bewdley Festival audience, he showed one of the most well known scenes in British comedy - the "Don't tell him, Pike" clip from Dad's Army.

After joking that he had shown the best bit first, he took the audience on a ramble through his life story, taking them back to his childhood growing up in Longbridge, Birmingham.

From there he moved on to his time studying at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and his days playing Private Frank Pike in Dad's Army, as well as his more recent role as Derek in EastEnders.

Throughout the evening, he talked openly and passionately about his life as an actor and used family photographs projected onto a screen to illustrate his memories and act as prompts to keep him on track.

He also spoke warmly of the actors he had worked with, including Dustin Hoffman, and kept the audience entertained with comical anecdotes.

Lavender's relaxed style meant he was not short of hands in the air when the audience was invited to ask questions during the second part of the show.

They covered a variety of subjects, including what characters he would like to play and what actors he would like to perform opposite.

It was a question from a young man in a wheelchair, asking about opportunities for disabled actors, however, that seemed to take him by surprise.

Although he paused before answering, clearly knowing that his answer - that there were very few - could disappoint, he did not avoid the question, reflecting the openness he had shown throughout the evening.

To finish, Lavender recited Marriott Edgar's whimsical poem, The 'Ole in the Ark, which illustrated his sense of fun and was a perfect way to end what had been a very entertaining evening. HL