“It’s funny because I travel all over but I always come back to Liverpool,” he says.

“I found my success here with Brookside so I owe this city a lot. Also I’ve done a lot of theatre here.

“When I first started off I was at the Everyman for a few years so this is me keeping my connections with Liverpool and giving something back as well as enjoying it.”

Last year, McArdle went on a tour of the Far East with Jim Cartright’s play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, which took in Raffles in Singapore as well as venues in Bangkok, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

As much of an adventure as this was, he admits he does prefer playing screen roles.

“I do like doing film more but I try and do at least two theatre jobs a year to keep my hand in because I think when you’re an actor you have to.

“If you leave it too long you get rusty.

“But theatre is what I started in and it is my roots so I still have a love for it.”

The good thing about a live audience, McArdle adds, is that anything could happen – and often does.

“That’s the bonus,” he says.

“You get an immediate response and reaction and that’s more fulfilling in a way than television, because it’s edited and put together later on so you don’t get anything back.”

He is looking forward to performing in a Liverpool theatre again.

“I might be biased but I always find Northern audiences warmer.

“I always feel more comfortable with a home audience whether it’s Liverpool or Bolton or somewhere like that.

“You feel that warmth and support from the audience – it’s like playing a match at home.”

ONE nIght in Istanbul is at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool, July 9-18.