HAVING gunk flung at you every Saturday morning would probably not be considered a career highlight by most Rada-trained actors.

Yet Ian Kirkby looks back very fondly on the time he spent, between and 2003 and 2006, as part of the team which brought anarchy to the nation’s TV screens in the children’s show, Dick and Dom in Da Bungalow.

Kirkby is an old Colchester hand from the early days of the Mercury Theatre’s in-house company and returns at the end of the month in Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa.

But despite a classical training and a spell at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Kirkby says his links with the Dick and Dom crew remain a key part of his professional life.

He explains: “Originally, the boys were doing the show on the CBBC Channel, but it ended up getting better ratings than the Saturday morning programme of the time, so they moved to that slot.

“The producer of the show was a mate of mine and he had this idea, when it was moved to BBC 1, to have a regular company of actors.

“There was Melvin Odoom – his real name – and Dave Chapman and I got in as the team’s classically-trained actor.

“The show had a rough structure, but most of it was improvised, which was a bit nerve-wracking.

“I have to say, of the 265 shows we did, 235 were sheer joy and it’s definitely the best job I have ever had.”

A Tiswas for the Noughties, Dick and Dom was a huge success, leading to spin-off series such as the Legend of Dick and Dom and Diddy Movies, in which Kirkby also featured.

He also got the opportunity to write a one-off episode for one of the show’s long-running characters, Det Con Harry Batt.

Kirkby says: “Harry was only meant to feature in one show, but they liked him so much he became a regular.

“I kind of based him on that Seventies Sweeney stereotype, but with a Geordie accent.”

The actor was also given the chance to develop his own character in another children’s telly favourite, the Slammer.

Kirkby explains: “It was produced by the same friend who did Da Bungalow. He told me the idea was to do a variety show in a prison for entertainers and he wanted me to play one of the officers. What was particularly nice about it was he had asked all the company of actors from Da Bungalow to be involved and said we could come up with our own characters.”

Kirkby has another TV job lined up – a new show with Dick and Dom called Hoopla, which he describes as Da Bungalow, but outside.

But before that there is the production which opens at the Mercury Theatre on May 31.

Those with a keen memory may recognise Kirkby from the early days of the Mercury Theatre Company.

When Dee Evans and Gregory Floy formed it in 1999, he was one the actors to take to the stage in such productions as What the Butler Saw, the Duchess of Malfi, Richard III and the Crucible.

He says: “It was funny, I only realised how many I had been in when I started writing my programme biog for this show.”

Graduating from Rada in 1992, those early years brought a mixture of theatre and TV work, including a year at the RSC, where he met Mercury company founder Floy.

He adds: “It’s how I got involved with the Mercury. I really enjoyed my time here, so I’m delighted to be back.

“I had a mate ask me the other day what it was like to return to the Mercury and I said it was a bit like putting on a pair of comfy slippers.

“There are enough familiar, friendly faces still here to make it feel like I’ve never been away.”

Dancing at Lughnasa Mercury Theatre, Balkerne Gate, Colchester.

May 31 until June 16.

Mostly 7.30pm – some matinees and other show times. £9.50-£21 % 01206 573948