or the past few years Peter Blake has spent every Christmas being booed at by children.

It's water off a duck's back for the actor, better known as Captain Hook in the Alhambra pantomime, Peter Pan.

"I'd rather be a villain than a good guy - the Devil always plays the best songs," smiles Peter, rather unnervingly.

"I play Hook the J M Barrie way. In the book he curses and shouts a lot but it's when he goes quiet that he's most dangerous, you know he could disembowel someone at the drop of a hat. He's a lot more sinister when he's quiet."

Peter has played Captain Hook for the past two years, opposite Joe Pasquale as his hapless sidekick Mr Smee. In Bradford he's playing opposite Alhambra stalwart Billy Pearce as Smee.

"There's a strong narrative with this show, it's so unlike any other pantomime," says Peter. "It starts off quite low-key, in the children's nursery. It's more like musical theatre than panto, then it gathers momentum as it goes along."

As Hook, Peter spends much of the show brandishing a sword and fighting with Peter Pan. Are the sword fights tricky to learn?

"Initially, but I've done much the same routine for three years now so I'm pretty used to it," says Peter. "The girl playing Peter Pan had never picked up a sword before, she's done brilliantly. And she has to do all that flying too, it's a very physical show for her.

"It's a show that relies on stunts. In that sense it's a challenge, but when you're doing it every day, sometimes twice a day, you get into your stride. It becomes a bit like Groundhog Day!"

So how does the cast keep it fresh over a seven-week run? "There's always an element of thinking on your feet during panto but generally acting is acting. Technique gets you through," he says.

"I once did a play which had a very emotional scene, I found that eventually I could do it while thinking about what I was going to have for my tea!

"It gets me really angry when people think that anyone can do panto. We have a responsibility to put on a good show, people are paying good money for tickets and, for most people, panto is their first experience of theatre so you want them to come back.

"When you start shoving in reality TV stars and other so-called celebrities, people with no experience of theatre acting, you run the risk of putting on a poor show and losing your audience.

"And they don't always come back. Don't get me started on the culture of Big Brother!"

Peter celebrated 40 years as a professional actor last year. He first appeared in The Winter's Tale at The Edinburgh Festival in 1966 then trained at The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Arriving in London, he worked briefly as a stage manager in Soho strip clubs before joining hippie musical Hair, followed by a string of West End rock musicals, including the original productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Rocky Horror Show - in which he played Frank 'n' Furter more than 1,000 times.

He has worked extensively in theatre ever since, as well as appearing in countless TV shows, including Z Cars, Shine On Harvey Moon, Just Good Friends, Boon, Alas Smith and Jones, Victoria Wood As Seen On TV, Jonathan Creek, Casualty and Coronation Street.

Most recently he has played another figure children love to hate; the evil Saber in BBC children's show Mysti. "It only ran for one series. I don't know what's happening with it now," he says.

"There was a time when you could make these decisions over lunch in the pub. Now you need to hold endless meetings with TV executives who aren't even old enough to go into pubs.

"I prefer theatre work to TV because you have more control of yourself on stage, you're not dictated to by camera angles and lighting."

Peter has been infamous at least three times; first as the Rocker in cult Pepsi commercials of the 1970s which led to him recording a hit single, Lipsmackin' Rock 'n' Rollin', then as Andy Evol, the stoned disc jockey in Agony with Maureen Lipman. He's perhaps most remembered as flashy, extrovert Kirk St Moritz in Eighties sitcom Dear John.

When he's not acting he's playing with the SAS Band.

"We do a few gigs a year and try to hold our own mini-Woodstock. We have guest singers like Fish from Marillion and Tony Hadley," he says. "I started out as a pop star, that's all I wanted to be - then I realised I was never going to be a Beatle so I went into acting."

  • Peter Pan runs at the Alhambra until January 27. For tickets ring (01274) 432000.