Gareth Hunt took on all-comers as Mike Gambit in The New Avengers, but, he tells Viv Hardwick, he came off worst in a struggle with a fishing rod.

STAGE and TV star Gareth Hunt is genuinely surprised that anyone should inquire about his health these days, yet two years ago he collapsed on stage at Bournemouth and was rushed to hospital.

In true tradition of being a former ex-New Avenger he makes light of the whole subject and says: "I'd had a couple of shots across the bow before that. Thank goodness everything is okay now, they're so good these days and once they've restructured you and re-plumbed you, then you're fine. Sir Ranulph Fiennes (another heart attack victim) is going up the north face of Everest, well I'm not doing that I'm just doing a play."

The play in question is The Gentle Hook by Francis Durbridge, full of killings and attempted murder, with Hunt appearing at Darlington's Civic Theatre alongside familiar names like Chris Ellison, Deborah Grant, Geoffrey Davies and Tony Scannell.

And just to show that he's made a full recovery, Hunt reveals that he appeared in Ian Dickens' production of the play before Christmas, went into pantomime at Sheffield and "then it was quite literally 'finish Saturday, start Monday' on The Gentle Hook again," he explains.

"Today, there's not 27 TV parts flying your way. You look at something because you're a jobbing actor, which is what I am, and decide whether it's worth doing. It's good if you're doing a Hollywood film for about $5m, then you have room for manoeuvre."

In the drama, Hunt plays a lawyer called Philip Harrison who "is a bit of a staid old character and not a bit like me at all, but it's well worth doing if a little wordy at times," says Hunt, who actually started out at The National Theatre 26 years ago with Chris Ellison in the cast.

"When I do panto it always reminds me of how long I've been in the business. I must have done 16-18 pantos, but there are times when you do fancy being at home for Christmas," says the actor, who made his TV name as Frederick, the footman in Upstairs Downstairs, which led to him becoming heroic Mike Gambit in ITV's The New Avengers.

"I've done God knows how many plays in rep, but unless people go to the theatre regularly they think you're a star overnight in one of these reality TV shows," comments Hunt, who claims to have turned down such offers in the past.

"I know Joe Pasquale, who won the last I'm A Celebrity, and full marks to John McCririck for what he said in Celebrity Big Brother according to the newspapers, but I didn't know anyone else who was in that apart from Germaine Greer.

"I like the reality TV shows that go to Spain and talk about buying property, but you don't want it wall-to-wall. I'm not sure I want to see make-overs with someone having their loo turned mauve, although that tends to make me sound like a miserable old bastard which I'm not," he adds.

Hunt is looking forward to the Darlington leg of The Gentle Hook tour, particularly after fond memories of starring in panto with The Krankies.

Poor Janette Tough, better known as Wee Jimmy Krankie, hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons when she fell 20 ft off a beanstalk in panto recently.

"Bless her, I talked to her the other week and she's still sore. I sent her flowers but I didn't know whether a parachute was better. She was lucky not to get killed, but she fractured her skull and broke bones. Everyone laughs, but it's not that funny at the end of the day," he comments.

On the subject of accidents, Hunt recalls going fishing for a giant pike in a river near Darlington when his son got his line caught in a tree.

"I said 'don't pull it like that, to get it out of a tree you do this', and remember you've got half a herring and a weight just under a pound on the end. I gave it a tug and it came out of the tree at about 8,000mph and hit me straight on the head... much to the amusement of my son," he laughs.

Not such a gentle hook after all for Hunt, who has appeared in soaps like EastEnders and Night And Day recently, is currently working on another TV project as well as his own internet company.

* The Gentle Hook runs Tuesday until Saturday at Darlington Civic Theatre. Box Office: (01325) 348 888.