Terence Frisch returns to the Watford Palace Theatre’s pantomime for the third year running, playing Nurse Nellie in Robin Hood. The 48-year-old Harrovian talks to Rosy Moorhead about his love of the Palace, frisky old dames, and Harry Hill.

This is your third outing as the Dame at the Palace – what keeps you coming back?

I like working in Watford because I’m from Harrow, I was born and bred there and lived there nearly all my life, so the Palace is my local theatre. To work on the stage, where I used to sit up in the gods is great. I’ve always loved the theatre, it’s beautiful. I’d love to work here again in a straight play.

Who is Nurse Nellie and what’s her role in proceedings?

She’s Maid Marion’s nurse and nanny, she’s looked after her since she was a little baby and now she’s a nanny, confidant and friend. She’s quite a cheeky lady of a certain age, who does rather like the gentlemen, she’s a frisky old maid.

What are some of the modern twists you’re including?

Nearly all the songs are up to the minute, I sing a Rhianna song, it’s a medley of Rhianna and Taylor Swift.

Lots of last year’s cast have returned – Donovan Blackwood (Friar Tuck), Philip Cox (Sheriff of Nottingham), Jill McAusland (Maid Marion), Sheena Patel (Shirley the Soothsayer) and Robert Rees (Robin).

That’s what great, it’s like a little family all coming back together again, with a couple of additions, such as Erica Guyatt who plays Little Joan, who are brilliant.

How does panto compare to the other theatre work you do?

You’ve got to treat it as you would any play, so the story’s got to be really good. That’s the same with all plays, the story’s the most important thing – it can look brilliant, you can sound fantastic, but if there isn’t a good story then the audience will get bored. But doing a panto is like doing a play and a musical and an opera and a spectacle and a two-hander at the same time

Has your panto work helped with your other theatre work?

Yeah, I’ve learnt my clowning trade doing panto over the years. If you can ad lib and chat and clown around on a theme, which you learn in panto, that does transfer into other forms of theatre. But it obviously works the other way round as well. Dance theatre that I’ve done I’ve used in panto, different forms inform each other. I would say I become a better actor each time I do something.

Did you always want to be an actor?

No, I wanted to be a sailor! I ended up working in the building trade, I didn’t really like it, but didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do. I did a bit of amateur theatre and I enjoyed it as a hobby, but never thought of doing it professionally. This was in the late ‘80s, I didn’t know anybody who was an actor, but I went to a careers service, they gave me some brochures and within about six months I was going to drama school and I had a grant from Harrow Council. I was really lucky. It was great fun, I had a laugh all the time, and then it just carried on from that really.

Did you appear in any plays around here when you were starting out?

I was in one group called the Campion Players in Harrow, which doesn’t exist anymore sadly, they were great fun, and I was in the Belmont Players, when they were in Kenton. I’ve seen quite a few of their shows over the last few years and I’ve got a lot of friends who are in it, they’re brilliant.

You’ve done some TV work as well as theatre, haven’t you?

I was in Call the Midwife last year, in one episode – I was the husband of twins who were having a baby, I had to work out who I was married to, both parts were played by the same actress, so that was a bit confusing! In Holby I got a big metal bar through the middle of my stomach and I was high on morphine singing Rocket Man by Elton John. Harry Hill saw it and got me to go and do it on his TV Burp! It was awful.

And weren’t you in Martin Scorcese’s Hugo?

That was funny, I had a really nice part that got gradually cut down to almost nothing, I was the circus barker. I had one scene where I was just shouting at Ben Kingsley in a fairground, saying ‘Come and see my show’, but we actually originally had a conversation and they cut it all out. It’s a beautiful film, stunning.