"EXPECT passion, love, jealousy and lots of sheep - and me in a smock!" said Stephen McGann, enthusing about his latest acting adventure.

He is currently on tour with a new stage version of Thomas Hardy's rural romance, Far from the Madding Crowd, heading Worcester-bound later this month.

And he and the cast will know all about countryside clinches - as half of them spent time working on the most rural of regular acting jobs - Emmerdale.

Stephen, who played Sean Reynolds (trucker husband of the late WPC Angie - ran away with the lady of the manor), is joined by Fraser Hines, the legendary Joe Sugden and Kevin Pallister, who had fun playing the sinister psycho Kathy-stalking Graham Clark.

The Emmo trio plays the three suitors of 'spirited' Bathsheba Everdine - she must choose between the dependable shepherd, the gentleman farmer and the dashing sergeant.

Stephen said he couldn't believe it when he heard about his co-stars but was delighted with the results. "I knew Kevin because he was in Emmerdale at the same time as me," he said. "I thought he'd be wonderful as Sergeant Troy and I was right. It was a brilliant piece of casting.

"I hadn't met Fraser Hines before but I found him to be a very irreverent and funny person and I knew we were going to have a great time on tour!"

Far from the Madding Crowd is brought to the stage by the award-winning Middle Ground theatre company. It depicts Hardy's classic Wessex countryside with the use of live music, country dance and Wessex song and humour. "One of the nice things about bringing it to the theatre is that you can bring in other elements of the period, like the music and songs," said Stephen.

"It's a smashing story," he said. "It's got a rare Hardy happy ending, but he manages to get in plenty of passion and pain beforehand!"

He said the best thing about this latest version was: "The ensemble is very strong - and it needs to be, Hardy peopled his world with such brilliant ethnic characters."

He said the show aims to capture not only Hardy's great ability to represent the landscape of Victorian rural England, but also the people dwelling within it. "People found it very hard at the time - and as we've been reminded with the likes of BSE, just because it's idyllic to look at doesn't mean there isn't hardship."

He plays one of Hardy's great characters, Gabriel Oak, who he has found interesting to portray. "The interesting thing is that his patience and Victorian virtues aren't that fashionable and don't appear in a lot of characters today.

"Also, the way in which he's so attractive is his physicality and its interesting to try to capture these parts of Gabriel through words and scenes."

But challenges and self-assurance seem all part of the McGann make up.

Stephen is, of course, one of the three talented acting McGann brothers - Paul and Joe are also stars of stage and screen - and he began his stage career as a teenager in 1982 in the West End musical Yakety Yak.

He has since starred in dozens of productions in the West End and all over the country, including the likes of Blood Brothers, Loot, Up on the Roof, Calamity Jane and last year, in Art.

He has starred in numerous television dramas and series - his long list of appearances includes Boon, Brookside, Juliet Bravo and Bergerac - and he has been in films and radio plays too. As if that's not enough, he has started out doing some writing and has already contributed scripts to The Bill.

One of his favourite projects to date, however, has been a collaboration with his brothers on BBC drama serial The Hanging Gale, about the Irish potato famine. He originated and co-produced it and after eight years in the making, won awards and much acclaim.

"It gave me the confidence to go on and write a script and it was great to bring it to the screen," he said. "But one of the nice things about this business is that nothing lasts forever and you have to go and make something new."

His next projects, though, will likely see him in the producer's chair and back at his writing desk.

Far From The Madding Crowd is on at The Swan Theatre, Worcester, from Monday, July 14 to Saturday, July 19 (matinees Thursday and Saturday).

Tickets (£8-£16.50) are available from the Huntingdon Arts box office on 01905 611427 or visit www.huntingdonhall.com.