IN an admission that will probably give heart to all aspiring thespians, Roy Hudd said he has the very devil of a job remembering his lines.

"Always have done," he complained. "Ever since the age of 12.

"I don't know what it is. I suppose I can put it down to going senile now, but that wasn't much of a defence when I was 12. I must have been the oldest 12-year-old ever."

Roy Hudd is one of my favourite performers on radio, stage or television and, in a way, it comes as no surprise his memory's not great.

Because so much of his stuff seems to be straight off the cuff.

"I'm always better making it up as I go along," he admitted. "But I can't do that with this. Pat would kill me."

"This" is a new touring production of The Solid Gold Cadillac, which comes to Malvern on September 13, and "Pat" is his redoubtable co-star Patricia Routledge.

"Pat likes things to be perfect, as indeed they should be," Roy added. "That's why she's the great actress she is. So I've got to be right or I'll be in trouble.

"Of course, people like Spike Milligan, Jimmy Edwards or Roy Castle could ad lib even during stage plays, but I'm not that good."

There are many people who would disagree with that last sentiment, because Roy Hudd, with the cheery, cheeky, nod-and-a-wink personality, has been a major talent ever since he made his TV debut in the 60s on Not So Much A Programme, More A Way Of Life.

His own series the Roy Hudd Show followed and he's not looked back since. His programme for Radio 2, The News Huddlines began in 1975 and is still going strong.

He's appeared in Coronation Street, Oliver, A Midsummer Night's Dream - the whole range of acting styles. He won a major award for his portrayal in the Flanagan and Allen tribute musical Underneath the Arches and broke new ground as a dramatic actor in Dennis Potter's Lipstick on Your Collar and Karaoke.

Mind you, Roy really has been at it since the age of 12, when, as a lad in Croydon, he joined the local youth club to play table tennis and meet girls.

The leaders insisted that all the youngsters also signed up for some "improvement activities" and so Roy chose "concert parties", partly because he'd enjoyed going to the music hall with his parents.

The group was run by a couple with lots of stage experience and soon he was hooked.

"It was almost better than RADA," he laughed.

You too can laugh along with Roy Hudd as he plays Edward McKeever in The Solid Gold Cadillac, the classic comedy that premiered on Broadway in 1953 and was later turned into a film with Judy Holliday and Paul Douglas.

Its theme has carried through the years too, because it concerns the machinations surrounding the annual meeting of an American corporation faced with voting through a massive salary increase for its senior management.

All appears to be sailing along, until an elderly shareholder starts asking awkward questions.

n The Solid Gold Cadillac plays Malvern Festival Theatre from Monday, September 13, to Saturday, September 18.

Call the box office on 01684 892277 for further details and to book tickets.