Though he was a little insulted at first, Gareth Hale is enjoying his role as a big, fat slob, he tells Steve Pratt.

THE first thing that went through Gareth Hale’s head when he was approached to play Onslow in the stage version of the BBC hit comedy Keeping Up Appearances was “How dare you? What made you think of me?”

You can see the reasoning behind that thought process. Followers of the series will recall Onslow as a chubby, dishevelled slob, short on manners and decency. Who’d want to be thought capable of impersonating him?

Hale – who made his comedy name as one half of the Hale and Pace partnership – put aside those thoughts and said yes. “He’s a comedy icon and, if you’re a massive fan or not, people will have seen the show,” he says.

“He always made me laugh and had some great lines. This is a new version written by Roy Clarke, who created the series, for the stage. Obviously, people want the characters and expect things in terms of the dynamics of the relationships, but it’s the theatre, a live event, and has to be different in some respects.”

Hale admits there are restrictions to playing a familiar character. The writing pushes you in the direction of the Onslow that fans know and love, and the parameters of the relationships between the characters is already established.

But he believes there’s still room to put his own stamp on the character within those limits.

Playing Hyacinth – which Rachel Bell does, taking on the role created by Patricia Routledge – might be more of a straitjacket, he thinks, because she speaks and moves so specifically.

He has met Geoffrey Hughes, the actor who played Onslow in the TV series, a couple of times, but not since he signed up for the Keeping Up Appearances theatre tour.

He and the rest of the cast, which includes TV faces Kim Hartman from ’Allo ’Allo and Steven Pinder from Brookside, can ask another cast member for first-hand recollections of the TV show. David Janson plays the postman, the same role he took on the small screen. “It was interesting listening to stories of how the series was filmed,” says Hale.

The tour began in May and audiences seem to be enjoying it, he reports. There are what he calls “reveals” of the characters to provide a bit of a surprise for the theatregoers.

The usually-scruffy Onslow undergoes something of a transformation during the course of the play when they get involved in an amateur dramatics production in the village hall.

Neighbour Emmett is directing and hoping that Hyacinth won’t get involved.

Unfortunately for all concerned, when she realises there’s the chance to play a titled lady, the snobbish Mrs Bucket can’t resist taking to the boards. So does Onslow, cast as an unlikely detective inspector in a Twenties whodunit.

Hale himself has moved away from comedy, partially, since he and Norman Pace took time out from being a double act. He was a regular on Five’s soap Family Affairs and appeared as the head porter on ITV’s The Royal. On stage, he’s been dustman Dolittle in My Fair Lady and a doorman in John Godber’s play Bouncers.

He doesn’t see the move from Hale and Pace, funny men, to Gareth Pace, actor, as a massive transformation. “We did 16 or 17 years of sketch comedy. We weren’t really into stand-up so, hopefully, we learnt some of the tenets of acting by doing that,” he says.

In fact, the pair played Reginald Hill’s detective Dalziel and Pascoe first in an ITV film, A Pinch Of Snuff. Warren Clarke and Colin Buchanan later played the same roles in the BBC series.

“A Pinch Of Snuff was a massive mountain really because of the intensity of the part, but playing opposite some very fine actors you want to make the best of the job you can,” says Hale. “We went on to make several more comedy series afterwards and then acting seemed to be a very natural progression.”

Hale and Pace, who first teamed up while training to be teachers, haven’t split up, they’ve just been working separately. Last year, they reunited for an Australian tour. “If we are around and fancy doing something together, we’ll get together,” says Hale.

He has nothing lined up once the Keeping Up Appearances tour ends in December. “I’m not doing panto, just looking forward to spending time with my two daughters,” he says.

■ York Theatre Royal, Oct 12 to 16. Tickets 01904-623568; yorktheatreroyal.co.uk