IT'S amazing to think that Les Dennis has been hosting Family Fortunes for 16 years now.

The television quiz show has been a constant winner in the ratings, proving the popularity of both its format and the man who oversees it.

Les, who is coming to Malvern Theatres next month to star in Alan Ayckbourn's comedy, Just Between Ourselves, is proud of that popularity and said: "It is a great show and it is still on primetime TV."

He has carved out a niche for himself as a television comic and gameshow host, but he is a more versatile performer than he is often given credit for, with a string of well-received stage appearances behind him.

"People know me as a gameshow host, but I have been doing theatre all my life," he said. "In the last few years I have concentrated on it more than I have in the past.

"It is something I love - I love being in a good play and playing a good character and being involved in it."

His stage career has included the leading role of Bill Snibson in the award-winning West End musical, Me and My Girl. Last year he was back in the West End playing Amos Hart in another musical, Chicago, at the Adelphi Theatre.

Last year he also played novelist Paul Sheldon in an adaptation of Stephen King's Misery at the Oldham Coliseum Theatre.

His career though began while he was still at school in Liverpool. "I have never had a proper job," he said. "I've never had a position not in showbusiness, except for a Saturday job at Burton's when I was at school."

At the age of 16 he was taking to the stage in what was the archetypal school of hard knocks - the northern working men's club circuit.

"It was an experience and it was certainly a baptism by fire to go on at a time when most of the comedians were 35 or 40. It was a great training ground."

It wasn't until later that he broke into television, particularly through a winning appearance on New Faces, which led to him becoming a member of Russ Abbot's Madhouse.

He said that the short routines he was expected to produce for television were a lot easier in many ways than the hour-long performances he was used to producing in the clubs.

More recently he has begun to take on dramatic roles for television with stints in Channel 5's soap, Family Affairs, BBC1's Doctors and in Brookside where he played the character, Jeff Evans.

The Malvern date for Just Between Ourselves marks the start of a nationwide tour and Les, who has never played at the theatre himself said: "I have been in the audience at Malvern because my wife, Amanda, did Arsenic and Old Lace years ago."

Performing in an Ayckbourn is another first for him and he is looking forward to it. "I love Alan Ayckbourn stuff and this is one of his very early works. It is very, very funny and I play a great character - this DIY nut who's useless."

That character is Dennis, whose inability to fix things also extends to his marriage, as his wife is driven mad by his relentless jollity and his ghastly mother.

As is typical of many Ayckbourn works the play has a moving side too.

"He really has tapped into the middle classes of England and knows the characters so well," said Les. "Without writing jokes it is brilliantly funny, because he's so good at picking up on observations."

He stars alongside fellow Liverpudlian Jean Boht, perhaps best known for her television role as Nellie Boswell in Bread.

Just Between Ourselves is on at Malvern Festival Theatre from Tuesday, July 2 to Saturday, July 6 with performances at 8pm and a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm. Tickets, priced between £10 and £18 are available from the Box Office on 01684 892277.