'I'll have that Pike line on my grave' Malcolm Handley talks to much-loved Welsh actor Philip Madoc about panto, his latest period drama... and a certain Dad's Army episode theatre.

Byline: Malcolm Handley

MUCH loved TV, film and stage actor Philip Madoc - a fluent Welsh speaker - was born in Merthyr Tydfil but has fond memories of many childhood visits to his grandparents home near Caernarfon.

"It was great fun to travel to North Wales. It was a different country.

One thing always sticks in my mind - the difference in Welsh from North to South. My gran would use words I had never heard before and, even though we spoke Welsh, I would have to ask my father what she was saying. My only family in the north now are cousins in the Caernarfon, Bangor and Anglesey areas".

A fan of panto, he recounts how his knowledge of Welsh turned one comic sketch on its head.

"In a production of Aladdin, as we are magically transported to China, my character asks 'Are you sure this is China?' And the reply would be along the lines of 'Well it's not Stevenage High Street' or some reference to wherever we were appearing - sometimes getting a mild titter.

"Then one day we turned it around and this time I am asked, 'Are you sure this is China?' and I reply 'Well it's not Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch!'

"The audience roared and from then on we used it each night."

But it is for a sketch with more than a hint of Germanic bravado that he is remembered by many.

As U-Boat Captain Muller, wanting to know an insolent young Englishman's name, he helps set up that unforgettable line for Dad's Army's Captain Mainwaring: "Don't tell him, Pike!".

"Yes, I am constantly reminded of it - I think it will be on my tombstone," he smiles. "Not that I am complaining.

"It was a wonderful series and I am proud to have been involved with such talented actors."

Many are unaware what helped make that line so memorable - the incongruous setting of a captured U-Boat crew being bought fish and chips by Private Walker, the platoon's resident spiv.

"Taking the order he says 'so that's one, two, three, . . . cod and chips', and I interrupt to say, 'I vont plaice.

And I vont my chips crisp and light brown'. Then I have the exchange with Pike," he laughs, betraying his fondness for the role.

Philip has a long list of credits to his name with 15 episodes of Dr Who, many films and TV and, as DCI Noel Bain, in the Welsh detective series A Mind to Kill.

Now Philip is touring with a new production of the atmospheric 1940s-set Wynford Browne drama The Holly And The Ivy, centring on a clergyman more focused on his parishioners than his grown-up children, at The Lowry, Salford later this month.

"It is an excellent play with a fine cast and we have been getting a good response all around the tour. This will be my first visit to the Lowry, something I am really looking forward to."

The Holly and the Ivy, The Lowry, Salford Quays, Monday February 16 to Saturday February 21. Tickets 0870 787 5780 or www.thelowry.com

CAPTION(S):

Philip Madoc in the Middle Ground Theatre Company's touring production of The Holly And The Ivy and (right) as U-Boat Captain Muller in a memorable episode of TV comedy Dad's Army