Darren Day is looking forward to returning to his native Essex for the first time in his acting career when he plays bad boy Billy Bigelow he tells CLARE SMITH

Darren Day has come a long way since his days as a Colchester schoolboy.

Now, for the first time, he has the chance to perform in his home county when Carousel hits the stage at the Cliffs Pavilion, Southend next Tuesday.

Already mid-way through the tour, Darren says the show is being well received and he is enjoying playing Billy Bigelow - a departure from his whiter-than-white characters of the past.

Having taken the lead role of Joseph in Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End hit and the Cliff Richard character in Summer Holiday, he now takes on the role of a loveable rogue.

However, his character is bad enough to hit his wife and be persuaded to be part of a robbery.

Darren explained: "It is a very different role to any role I have ever played before or any show I have been in before. It's much more serious."

Although Darren admitted he loved the pure escapism of spectacular shows like Joseph, he added: "It was time to really stretch myself a little bit more."

After leaving the West End performance of Grease last year Darren jumped at the chance to appear in the Rocky Horror Show because it was so different to his previous parts.

Moving on to Carousel he was a little worried it would be just another family musical, but once he began researching his character he found out there was more to it.

"He is a very dark tormented soul, and it is quite a dark show. Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote dark characters and dark plots, and this is certainly no exception. It is great to play the bad guy,"he says.

Darren is looking forward to his run in Essex as he has never performed professionally in his home county before.

"Every time I tour I look down the list of venues and see if I will be appearing near home.

"The only place which could have been better for me would have been the Mercury Theatre in Colchester. It would be great to play in my home town.

"Next year we are planning to do a short tour of one-nighters and maybe we will be able to bring that to Colchester.

"Southend is OK though as my family can come and visit easily and I lived in Billericay for a time."

He added the one-night shows would be a way of saying thanks to his fans who had been loyal even after some of the things he has had written about them.

Even though he can happily say he has been constantly employed since Joseph way back in 1993, Darren does often yearn to spend more time at the home he bought last year.

"Possibly the older I get the more I could do with spending time at home.

"When it all first started for me I was 24, and I have been pretty much touring now for seven years," he says.

For Carousel, Darren performs alongside former Brookside star Sam Kane who is married to ex-page three girl Linda Lusardi.

Darren says that although he has found it hard in the past to balance a relationship with touring, he has seen it can be done with Sam and Linda.

After the tour of Carousel ends in December, Darren will be appearing in panto with Jim Davidson in Northampton.

Then he will go on to play a Liverpudlian welder in a television drama the Hollywood Welder, which draws inspiration from Auf Weidersehn Pet.

Playing Billy Bigelow has made Darren want to expand the acting side of his career into television acting and even possibly films.

Already he has a few film scripts he is reading through and hopes one may come off at the end of this year. Darren says he hoped people who saw Carousel the first time around will come and see it again for a little nostalgia, while new audiences will be pulled in too.

"It is a very moving show and at a couple of venues we were even giving tissues out with the programmes.

"It is kind of weird knowing your object is to make people cry rather than laugh, scream or clap."

Carousel will be at the Cliffs Pavilion, Station Road, Southend from August 22 to September 2. For tickets and information call the box office on 01702 351135.

Essex boy - Darren Day was brought up in Colchester and Billericay before he went off to the bright lights of showbusiness. Now he likes the idea of dropping his whiter than white image

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.