It started with a fascination for the corny horror movies Richard O’Brien stayed up late to watch on TV.

Three decades later, the Rocky Horror Show – Richard’s affectionate send-up of sci-fi and B-movies – is one of the world’s most popular rock musicals. Next year it returns to Bradford, and fans of the cult hit, who traditionally dress up for performances, will be fishing out the fishnets, buffing up the basques and sharpening the stilettos.

Children of the Eighties will remember Richard, 67, as presenter of classic TV show The Crystal Maze, but he’s best-known as creator of The Rocky Horror Show, which premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 1973. He starred in the 1975 movie as creepy butler Riff Raff, opposite Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon.

Three decades on, he insists he still loves the show. “Rocky Horror is one of those joys in my life because it’s a great joy in other people’s lives,” he says. “I love the fact that it comes to town and cheers people up. Groups of people, from offices and the like, go as a party. What a wonderful thing to be giving people pleasure for 30 years!”

Richard has traditionally been hands-on with the stage version, occasionally appearing in performances, but he’s currently working on a new musical, The Stripper, so has left Rocky in the hands of director Christopher Luscombe.

“He directed it last time and did a splendid job. And David Bedella, who’s playing Frank ‘N’ Furter again, is terrific; controlled, sensible, witty and intelligent. With them at the helm, I didn’t have to worry.”

Anyone who’s experienced the Rocky Horror Show will know audience participation is almost a character in itself. From shouting out comments – too saucy for a family newspaper – to chucking rice, chocolate bars and toast, and dancing the Time Warp, audience reaction is a big part of the show.

If you’re a first-timer, you could find it a clique, something Richard has addressed. “The thing with Rocky, one has to bear in mind, is that many audience members have seen it before – but even more have never seen it. What I don’t want to happen is the people who haven’t seen it to feel like they’re sitting at a party they haven’t been invited to,” he says. “It was getting like that at one stage. We were sent to take it back from the fans owning the show to the people on stage owning the show.”

While he thinks it’s “splendid” that the show is a cult classic, he says it’s not for audiences alone.

“I think the more responsible fans understand that too, because if they want the best show possible they have to allow the people on stage to give them just that. I think we’ve got the balance right now so everybody can enjoy it,” he says.

Richard has fond memories of shooting the film over a six-week period.

“Most of us knew it back to front as we’d played it on stage. We were close in a family kind of sense,” he says.

“I think we finished a week before Christmas and it was wet. Susan (Sarandon) came down with a dreadful cold right at the end when she had to go to the swimming pool and do Wild And Untamed Thing. This girl was a real trouper. You’d never know she was ill. We had a great time.”

He was inspired by watching B-movies on TV in the late 1960s.

“I used to roar with laughter at how they took themselves so seriously, it became unintentionally funny. That’s what I wanted to capture,” he says. “When we went to make the movie, we realised we were treading a tightrope. On stage everyone knew we were parodying B-movies and sci-fi movies, but with film how did we let people know this was not just a bad movie? It had to be played for real. We struck a chord.”

That would be something of an understatement. Rocky was a cult hit in cinemas and became one of the most successful movies in 20th Century Fox history.

Despite having made his name with a parody of popular culture, Richard insists he’s populist at heart. “I’m not highbrow,” he says. “I started my reading with comic books, Just William, Enid Blyton and moved on to HG Wells. I love paperbacks and crime fiction.

“When I was a teenager, these people were writing books for people like me, who’d left school at 16. The percentage of the population that went into higher education in those days was minimal. These writers were just ordinary folk like the rest of us, those are my people. That’s what I come from.”

He still loves sci-fi. “I enjoyed Blade Runner, Alien and Star Trek. I thought Patrick Stewart was excellent. He allowed growth to the storylines because he brought fine acting and commitment to playing what could fall apart and become risible.

“A lot of people belittle these series, but they’re examining the human condition, there’s always something where man is put under the microscope. That’s always worth watching.”

The Rocky Horror Show runs at the Alhambra from next February 1 to 6. For tickets, ring (01274) 432000.