Following in the illustrious footsteps of Albert Finney, Antony Newley and Tommy Steele, Shane takes on the title role in the musical of Dickens classic.

He accepts he's hardly the obvious choice for such a dark role, but he's grateful for the chance.

"After Alfie there were producers who would have let me play Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz because they knew they'd get bums on seats, but Bill Kenwright approached me to play Scrooge and I thought that was a really clever move.

"I didn't know if I was right for it, because you just wouldn't associate the guy who played Alfie with someone like Scrooge, but that was what made me want to do it.

"And I deliberately made him as miserable as possible because I thought people might expect me to play him slightly frothy. I wanted him to be really hateful because then it's a better journey by the time you get to the end."

Shane says he's eagerly anticipating the Liverpool dates, not least because they're the finale of the tour. "I'll be so happy I'll be crowbarring gags in by then and pulling rabbits out of my a**e!" he jokes..

Although, he grins, any suggestion that he might take advantage of Alfie's popularity with women - and his Sexiest Soap Male status - is totally unfounded.. "If I was single, darling, I'd be sh***ing myself around the country," he laughs. "But now I'm 40 and I just want to go to bed and go asleep!"

* Scrooge is at the Liverpool Empire from February 6 to February 18.