Oliver Mellor returns to stage after Coronation Street

Small wonder Oliver Mellor is diffident when he talks to the press.

He relaxes when he finds I’m more interested in his return to the stage after several years of TV.

Ladies in Retirement, which visits Chesterfield’s Pomegranate this week, is his second tour in eighteen months.

“My character is a criminal,” he says. “They’re far more fun than the good guys and love interests I played on TV.

“Being back in front of a live audience is giving me a real buzz; I love the unpredictability, that moment when you step out of the wings and don’t quite know what’s going to happen.”

His next project is also theatre: a stage version of All Creatures Great and Small, opening in Windsor, his home town. “An ambition fulfilled: I’ve always wanted to play the Theatre Royal.”

His recent experience hasn’t put him off television; even Corrie had its moments.

“The strip show episode was fun: night shooting, with the stunt crew and pyrotechnics for the pub fire, got the adrenalin pumping. Gyrating half naked in front of the entire cast and crew was a bit embarrassing, but I keep in shape.”

He does; he was a personal trainer and first-class rugby player before acting claimed him, and it still shows.

So life in the tabloid goldfish bowl hasn’t put him off working on TV?

“Not at all. What happened to me can happen to anyone; a high-profile job means it gets in the papers. Nothing can prepare you for that; you just have to accept that you’re being watched.”

Ladies in Retirement also stars Shirley Anne Field, Katy Manning and Karen Ford and is running at the Pomegranate from Tuesday, March 11 to Saturday, March 15.