Fresh from touring the UK with his Duncan Dares live show, the action-packed actor/presenter Peter Duncan is once more getting into the spirit of improvisation for his role in the Watersmeet panto Aladdin as the hero’s brother, Wishee Washee.

Brought up on the panto circuit, Peter has many stage appearances to his credit, including playing his hero Charlie Chaplin when he starred in the musical Little Tramp. He has also been in both Peter Pan and Captain Hook pantomimes, and played in Equus, Funny Peculiar and the cult film Flash Gordon. His career as an actor began at 17 when he joined the National Theatre. Since then he has taken on numerous roles, most notably the title role in the musicals Barnum and Me and My Girl. In 1995, he was nominated for an Olivier Award as Best Actor in a musical for his role in The Card. He most recently appeared in Alan Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce and Things We Do For Love and as Stan Laurel, his other comedy hero, in a new production of Laurel and Hardy.

Peter says he feels panto owes a lot to the likes of Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin. He says: “They were in knockabout musical troupes before they became film stars and have that physical humour of the silent clown, which is part of panto too. Their work is full of innocent narratives and I’ve always liked that stuff.”

Like his heroes, Peter is perhaps best known for his daredevil approach to life, which first came to the public’s attention when he joined the Blue Peter team in 1980. He wore his action man label with pride (running in the first London Marathon, fighting a sumo wrestler in Japan and crossing the Irish Sea in a VW Beetle) and he was voted the third most popular man on TV. In 1985 he left Blue Peter to make Duncan Dares, a series that capitalised on his derring-do image by having him carrying out stunts as requested by young viewers. Firewalking and laying on a bed of nails with a tarantula on his chest and a snake coiled over his body are among the things Peter got up to and can still be seen on his website for the curious to look at.

His recent Duncan Dares show, based on the series, appropriately coincided with the 50th anniversary of Blue Peter, and the 100th year of the Scout movement, for which Peter is currently serving as Chief Scout.

All this dashing around for the past two months hasn’t dimmed Peter’s spirit. He’s determined to maintain a brisk pace in the weeks to come as he skips between his role in Aladdin and as writer and director of Sleeping Beauty, his third panto with Oxford Playhouse, which opened on Friday, December 5.

“I’d rather have a short rehearsal time,” admits Peter. “It works better as people just get on with it. Why do you need two weeks when you can do it in two days?”

This breakneck speed suits the self-confessed action addict, whose daredevil stunts for Blue Peter have become his trademark.

Peter, who lives in South London with wife Annie and their four children, tells me: “When I joined Blue Peter, I guess I really filled the boots of John Noakes, who was famous for all these kind of stunts.

“Among my favourites were climbing Big Ben and fighting the sumo wrestler. It was a pretty rough moment, but he liked the spirit I showed. Because I kept asking for more, I was really respected for that.”

Other memorable moments for Peter include training as a James Bond stunt double, jumping 40ft through a roof, walking barefoot across hot coals and driving underwater.

But all the time he performed these edge-of-seat stunts, Peter says there was never any real danger. “I did dare to do devilish things, but I never really wanted to come a cropper,” he says. “The idea was that it was entertaining, not reckless. When you’re challenged like that, you can’t be reckless. You’ve got to get the timing right and be a bit of an athlete.

“But to tell you the truth, I got just as much of a kick out of all the other things we did on Blue Peter. I really enjoyed the fact that the show was live, so anything could happen.”

Speaking about the fact Blue Peter has just celebrated 50 years, Peter says he has been overwhelmed by the “great affection” people still have for the show today.

He says: “It’s been lovely over the past few weeks with all the celebrations.

“I’ve enjoyed it immensely and realised what a positive force Blue Peter has become for young people.

“Our editor, Biddy [Baxter], was so astute and related to young people. She was determined that the ideas for the show really came from them, and that’s what made it a success.”

With fond memories of the show, Peter was all the more overwhelmed when last year he was awarded a gold Blue Peter badge, in recognition of his work with the Scout movement. He says: “It was a bit of a shock and I suppose I did go a bit gooey, but anyone who receives one normally goes like that!”

For now, Peter will be putting all his energy into his performance as the loveable Wishee Washee, alongside Kelle Bryan from the chart topping band Eternal with John Brenner as Widow Twankey, comedy duo The Citrus Brothers as PC Ping and PC Pong and Jonathan Eio as Aladdin. Maurice Thorogood will be providing all the evil, villainous qualities required for his role as Abanazar, Gareth Davies has just the right amount of pomp and circumstance befitting the Emperor and Louise Travis as the Genie of the Lamp is sure to illuminate the Watersmeet stage.

Aladdin runs from Friday, December 12, 2008 to Sunday, January 4, 2009 at the Watersmeet Theatre, High Street, Rickmansworth. Details: 01923 711063, www.watersmeet.co.uk (£8.50-£15.50)