ACTOR Robin Sebastian is back on stage at the Theatre Royal Plymouth tonight, giving his all – his all, I tell you – as Kenneth Williams in the laugh-a-minute Stop Messing About.

Robin is no stranger to Kenneth Williams, having played the role in Round the Horne Revisited and Round the Horne... Unseen and Uncut which have both been to the Theatre Royal.

Robin is delighted to be taking on the role of Kenneth Williams again in a show based on the popular 1960s BBC Radio programme.

"When Kenneth Horne died suddenly the writers adapted the material for a new team and they made Kenneth Williams the central figure," Robin says. "It was a very similar show – it revolved around so many characters, gags, sketches and film spoofs.

"Some of it was very risque stuff, like the Carry On films which he was doing – full of scatological jokes and lots of lovely wordplay."

Stop Messing About featured the outstanding talents of Kenneth Williams, his Carry On co-star Joan Sims, his long-time colleague and friend Hugh Paddick and a talented BBC announcer, Douglas Smith, who plays all the parts nobody else wants.

All are lovingly re-created on stage in a show by veteran comedy writers Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke. Together they wrote many television situation comedies and sketch shows, including Man About The House, Father Dear Father, George and Mildred and Robin's Nest.

Robin says he will be following in the Kenneth Williams tradition... and milking every joke for all it's worth.

"It was absolutely the Kenneth Williams show. He had various characters, and he would give them voices similar to the Round the Horne characters.

"The catchphrase 'stop messing about' actually came from a Kenneth Williams character in Hancock's Half Hour. The script would say 'Kenneth Williams (snide voice)'. He would be grinning as he's talking.

"That character became synonymous with Kenneth Williams and he thought it had become a millstone. Because of the way he talked people pigeonholed him. He was upset at being stereotyped."

Stop Messing About recreates the heady atmosphere of a recording studio as Kenneth Williams and the team perform – after a few warm-up jokes from Robin, perfectly intoning the nasal twang of Kenneth Williams.

He has got the voice down to a fine art – having first started "doing" Kenneth Williams as a young waiter, and slips into the voice easily.

"I love making people laugh," he says. "And if they're not laughing I just keep going until they do! In actual fact, I'd be gutted if anybody else played the role."

Stop Messing About is at the Theatre Royal Plymouth from tonight until Saturday. Box office: 01752 267222.