To say Brendan Sheerin is used to coach travel is a bit like saying Bradley Wiggins knows his way around a bicycle.

As the amiable presenter of Channel 4’s Coach Trip, Brendan has travelled across Europe and beyond with coachloads of passengers voting each other off along the way.

As viewers will know, contestants have barely left British shores before the backstabbing sets in, and in the middle of it all is dear, calm Brendan, trying to keep the peace.

The popular tour guide has been everywhere and seen it all. But it was a different kind of coach that brought him to Bradford for the launch of this year’s Alhambra pantomime. Two white horses pulled a glass carriage carrying Brendan, panto king Billy Pearce and actress Lynda Bellingham across the city’s Mirror Pool to a red carpet beneath a sprinkling of fake snow.

Crowds gathered as Brendan posed for photographs and signed autographs for delighted fans.

“Ooh, I love Coach Trip. My tea-times aren’t the same without it!” cried one woman, hugging him.

Brendan is Baron Hardup in Cinderella. It’s not his first venture into pantomime.

“I’ve done it for the past two years. I was the Sultan in Aladdin and Herman the Henchman in Snow White,” he reveals. “But when it comes to panto, Bradford is the biggie. The Alhambra has a great panto tradition and to work alongside Billy, who’s a legend, is very special.”

Born in Leeds, Brendan started his travel career on the Costa Brava in the 1970s and has worked as a tour guide around the world. While working as entertainments manager of Scarborough’s Spa theatre he got his TV break.

“My boss was head of tourism and she’d been contacted by a TV company looking for tour guides. She said I should go for it, so I fired off an e-mail and next thing I knew I was filming,” says Brendan. “I’ve done eight series and three Christmas specials. It’s a blast.”

The show has become a cult hit and Brendan says its appeal is two-fold. “Some people watch it for the travel and others like to see who’s voting who off. It’s a guilty pleasure,” he smiles. “A lot of people come with an agenda and think they can play the game, but the game plays them. The idea is to network sufficiently to avoid being voted off, and some have stayed to the end. The longer people are on, the more attached I get. It’s sad seeing them go.”

Brendan does his own research for the itinerary. “I come up with ideas for activities too – it’s no good just showing everyone walking around looking at buildings, they have to do something fun. And whether it’s white-water rafting, floating in a mud bath or whizzing across a mountain on a zip wire, I have a go too.”

The show has made Brendan a household name and, in one memorable moment from a celebrity Coach Trip, he was the only one recognised in St Mark’s Square in Venice. “I think it was just me and the Chuckle Brothers. The others weren’t best pleased,” he grins.

  • Cinderella runs at the Alhambra from December 15 to February 3, 2013. For tickets ring (01274) 432000.