When it comes to Blackadder, most people think of Rowan Atkinson and his rubber face and comical lilt, which Sam Gaines admits makes playing Edmund in the Pump House’s production of the iconic British sitcom quite a challenge.

But Atkinson’s delivery wasn’t all for laughs, Sam explains to me: it was because he had a stutter, and a lot of the time he was taking a breath to get the stutter out the way. This is why he says delivering and learning his lines has been “incredibly hard”.

“It is the most nerve-wracking role I have ever had to play, just because, as well as being quite a wordy part on stage for pretty much the majority of the piece, it is a really iconic role, played by this incredible comic actor.

“There are so many things that are ingrained in people’s minds about the way he delivers his lines and the physical comedy of it all too,” adds the 34-year-old from Letchmore Heath.

“For example the way he says ‘Bob,’ which is really important and people tell me they will be looking out for that. A lot of it is in the delivery and trying to make natural to me.”

The play is based on three episodes from the second series set in Elizabethan England. The first is Bells, in which Blackadder takes into service what he thinks is a young man called Bob, who is actually a lady called Kate. He starts to have feelings for her, gets very confused, but when she reveals that she is actually Kate they plan to get married until that all falls apart.

The second is Head, where Blackadder is promoted to Lord High Executioner and he is trying to get out of doing work so he schedules someone’s execution for the Monday instead of the Wednesday. The Queen then decides that that person isn’t actually going to get executed so he has to try and work out a way to trick the Queen into believing he is still alive.

The final episode the play is based on is Beer - sees Blackadder’s aunt and uncle, who are puritans, invite themselves over for dinner to talk about the inheritance they are going to give him. But he has already planned a drinking competition that night and ends up balancing two parties in different rooms, with hilarious consequences.

Sam, who runs his own engineering company and comes from a family of actors, says that what audiences can expect from his Edmund is “a bloke trying to be as close as possible to what Rowan Atkinson did, with a slightly different beard – I can’t grow mine as well as he did”.

The former theatre and media graduate from the University of Glamorgan adds that he is a big fan of the sitcom and has it all on DVD. “It’s so well written and insightful,” he goes on to tell me. “We’ve all known someone a little bit like Baldrick, that person who always comes up with a plan or Lord Percy, who is just not smart but lovely.

“For the past eight years I have stepped back from performing and moved into directing - I am actually currently working with Cassio Productions on Legally Blonde, which will be at Watford Palace in November. But when this part came up I just thought I had to go for it and I don’t know how our director has put up with me in this.”

Laughing he adds: “We did a dress rehearsal on Monday and my costume is rather large near my backside and it kept getting stuck on chairs. It happened right at the end, and everyone said keep it in, it is hilarious… I chased someone and the chair went with me. I’ll try not to do that on the night.”

Pump House Theatre, Local Board Road, Watford, June 13-18. Details: 01923 241362, pumphouse.info.