CityLife

Thomson looking forward to contest

John Thomson

NO two ways about it, John Thomson is on a bit of a roll right now. "I didn't have a very busy year last year," he admits, "apart from setting up a production company and writing a sketch show.

"That was just a way of killing time, really. This year, though, the work has snowballed. I did Celebrity Adrenaline Junkie with Jack Osbourne in New Zealand in April. Then I got my show on BBC Radio Manchester on Saturdays, before filming Kingdom, which I've just finished.

"I'm also doing a programme about cookery schools. I've done Delia and I'm just about to do Raymond Blanc from The Restaurant. Then there's Corrie, before I start getting ready to play Captain Hook in panto at the Opera House over Christmas and then go down to London to start filming a new sitcom."

Before any of that, John is dipping his toes back in the murky waters of live stand-up, hosting this weekend's final of the CityLife.co.uk Comedian Of The Year.

"I'm really looking forward to it and I think I'm going to dust down Bernard Right-On for that, who'll work really well as a compere, I think."

For those who have never seen him, the Bernard Right-On character is a hilariously politically correct northern club comedian from John's early days, a mirror image of the late Bernard Manning.

"It's great to get a chance to see some of the best of up-and-coming comedians, too, because I'm a bit out of it. But when I have been to gigs at the Comedy Store, where there have been new comedians, I've thoroughly enjoyed it. You take your hat off to anyone who has the nerve to get up on that stage really, because it can be terrifying."

John, of course, cut his teeth on the Manchester comedy circuit in the late eighties and early nineties, often appearing with fellow scene stalwarts Steve Coogan and Caroline Aherne, before stardom beckoned with TV series such as Cold Feet, The Fast Show and New Street Law.

Peter Kay

Now, the Salford-raised actor and comic, 39, will follow fellow comedians Peter Kay and Roy Hudd on to the cobbles of Coronation Street. John plays a down-on-his-luck children's entertainer called Jessie over three episodes filmed this month and due to be on screen in mid-December. But producers hope to tempt him back for a longer spell on the soap next year.

December will also mean panto, this year with the part of Captain Hook - something he's anticipating with relish.

"It's great being a villain, which isn't how I'm usually cast," he laughs.

"I spoke to Paul O'Grady about it recently and he said, 'You'll be so worn out by it, you'll genuinely hate your audience by the end of it!', so you've got all the motivation you'll need.

"But they'll never know! It's a good cast and I'm really, genuinely excited about it. I was first contacted in March or April - you've got to get your oar in early for these things - and it was originally going to be Aladdin.

Gary Wilmot

"But then they said that the cast for this was perfect for Peter Pan. When you've got people like Gary Wilmot in it, you know you're going to have a laugh. Some people complain that panto is too mainstream, with people like Gary or Brian Conley in it. But I don't see it like that. I see it as full-on entertainment."

And working with `family audiences', i.e. lots of screaming kids?

"This exercise is either going to exorcise that demon or put me in the nuthouse!," he laughs. "Playing the baddie, the louder boos you get, the better the job you're doing!"

It's not his first experience with panto, though. "I was Footman in Cinderella at Preston Little Theatre," he admits. "I don't think you can do it if you don't love it. Would I play a dame? Definitely."

John also has a key role in the potential Christmas blockbuster movie Inkheart, based on the children's books and likely to be a franchise. "Oh I'm looking forward to that, if it happens, and I know my character has a much bigger role in the later books. You've really arrived when you're an action-figure toy, haven't you?"

CityLife Comedian of The Year Finals, Sunday, 8pm, Comedy Store, Deansgate Locks. Call 0844 847 1536 to book.