As one of Britain's top mediums, Stephen Holbrook is constantly in demand for live shows around the country.

He has raised more than £50,000 for local charities from his shows and is currently working with police on a murder investigation. In January he sets off on a luxury Caribbean clairvoyancy cruise' and is in talks about making a fly-on-the-wall TV show with his old friend, Wakefield singer Jane McDonald.

It's a far cry from his days as a hairdresser in Leeds when Stephen passed on spirit messages while slapping on the perming lotion.

"I miss that direct relationship with clients; it's not the same with an audience of several hundred people," he says. "But I love what I do. It's enormously rewarding."

Stephen describes himself as a "telephone exchange between the living world and the afterlife". He claims to repeat messages from spirit voices to his audience, revealing uncannily precise details such as names and dates.

In an age when you can tap into online psychic readings or dial up round-the-clock TV mediums, it seems we can't get enough of the unknown'.

"People are more open to developing their psychic ability," says Stephen. "My advice is to learn to switch off - otherwise it gets horrendous. It took me nine years. I felt like I had no control; it nearly gave me a breakdown.

"Now, when I come offstage I meditate which helps me switch off. I can't be open to spirits all the time, otherwise I'd be driving back from gigs with Aunt Florrie' in the back of the car pestering me!"

Stephen became aware of his psychic ability as a child. "I'd hear voices and didn't know what to do with them. It was frightening. Eventually I went to a doctor who advised me to visit a spiritualist church where I learned to channel spirit energies."

Whatever your views on mediums, there's no doubt Stephen has brought comfort to hundreds of people.

"With bereavement, people struggle to cope because of something they said or didn't say to the person who died, particularly if it was a sudden death. If I provide irrefutable evidence that I've contacted a spirit, they can make peace and move on. It's an emotional process but a great comfort. I've had hundreds of lovely letters and e-mails.

"I get sceptics sitting with their arms folded as if to say Go on, convince me'. By the end of the show they're in tears."

There's humour in his shows too, helping the audience relax. "Wait your turn!" he'll suddenly snap to an impatient spirit trying to get through. "Sometimes they try to jump the queue," he explains.

How does he prepare for a show? "I used to meditate but that just made me a bag of nerves. Now I run around like a scalded chicken then go on stage and launch straight into it. I never know what to expect."

Through his shows Stephen has raised £52,000 for Wakefield Hospice and, since February, £6,500 for Bradford Macmillan Cancer Support. His next Bradford show is in aid of Sheffield-based charity PACT supporting children with cancer.

Recently he's focussed on healing, which he says came as a surprise. "It never interested me but one night there was a lady in the audience who was due to have a tumour removed. I gave her a spirit message and I knew she had a lump in her neck, even though she was sitting several rows away. After the show she came up and said Feel the back of my neck... it's gone'. She couldn't believe it.

"It just seems to be channelled through me; it comes from the spirits. I'd like to set up a healing centre."

Stephen called on his healing skills when his wife was diagnosed with lymphoma. "It was four years since the diagnosis and I was in the pound shop one day when I got a call from the hospital. I knew it was something important," he says. "When I got there they said Do you believe in miracles?'. She'd been diagnosed with 75 per cent lymphoma but it had disappeared.

"I'd been doing intense healing day and night, laying on hands to relax her. It's not something I take for granted though," he adds.

Stephen met Jane McDonald when she was a struggling club singer and predicted that she'd find success on a boat. Shortly afterwards she shot to fame on BBC docu-soap The Cruise.

"Jane's a great friend. We're in discussions to do a TV project," says Stephen. "Ideally I'd like to do TV when I'm older. I have children and I want to be here for them. Wherever I'm appearing in the country I can drive back and take them to school the next day. That's important."

  • Stephen Holbrook is at the Hilton Hotel, Bradford, on Sunday December 16 at 7.30pm. For tickets ring (01274) 705363.