ACTOR Nick Moran, of Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels fame, returns to Darlington Civic Theatre next week, this time behind the scenes.

His debut play Telstar, well-received when it opened in Cambridge last week, comes to town as the third venue in a five-week run.

It has taken Moran eight years to stage it in front of a paying audience, which made him a sympathetic workshop leader when he when he dropped into a session with budding playwrights at the Arts Centre this week.

Telstar, created by Moran with James Hicks, opens at the Civic on Monday and tells of the high and lows and gay life and loves of maverick Sixties record producer Joe Meek (Telstar, Have I the Right, Jonny Remember Me). It's fast, funny and ultimately tragic.

Before he talked to his audience at the Arts Centre, Mr Moran said: "A long, long, time ago I was looking for something to write about when I was an unemployed actor, then along came the film Lock Stock and it was put on the back burner."

But he was drawn back to the bizarre life of the man who, he says, shooed away the early Beatles and Stones and told a schoolboy Rod Stewart he didn't stand a chance.

The part of Joe Meek is played by Con O'Neill, well known to Civic audiences thanks to the musical Blood Brothers. Also taking centre stage are Birds of A Feather star Linda Robson and ex-Coronation Street actor Adam Rickitt.

Moran, remembered in Darlington as one of the Four Knights in Knaresborough, has found time, after making six films in Hollywood and Europe, to clinch Arts Council England funding for Telstar's tour, which he hopes will take it on to the West End.

For Civic Theatre ticket details, call the box office on (01325) 486555.