IN all posh-oo murder mysteries we love to joke that the butler did it, in the case of PG Wodehouse’s Jeeves, not only does the butler do it, but the show couldn’t function without him. The latest recruit to the butlering genius of the 1930s era is John Gordon Sinclair, who will be flaunting his best silver service comedy in front of North-East audiences next month.

Currently wearing the penguin suit of servitude in the West End, Sinclair confesses that the recent heatwave has been more than a match for the air conditioning in the Duke of York’s Theatre.

“Let’s say that my role is a little more intense that usual,” he jokes.

Sinclair landed this iconic comedy part as a result of working with director Sean Foley on The Ladykillers in the West End last year. “I also nearly worked with him for the Royal Shakespeare Company the year before that. So, that was how my name got thrown into the pot.”

Sinclair is delighted that I’ve managed to catch a performance of the play featuring original Jeeves cast member, Matthew Macfadyen (Mark Heap taking over the role of Jeeves prior to Sinclair), because the play has a madcap and farce-like quality where three male actors have to play all the roles, including several females.

“I’m glad to know that because a lot of people I’ve spoken to haven’t seen it and it’s hard to convey the comedy to them because they’re expecting a cosy period comedy which is definitely not how I’d describe it. It’s hard to explain that this is an exhausting farce where we’re thinking on our feet,” he says referring to the efforts of himself, James Lance as Bertie Wooster and co-writer Robert Goodale playing a host of classic cameo characters such as Seppings (another butler), Gussie Fink-Nottle, Madeline Bassett, Sir Watkin Bassett, Dahlia Travers, fascist Roderick Spode and PC Oates.

“I liken this production to a cross between PG Wodehouse and Monty Python the way it plays out, but I don’t think PG Wodehouse fans would be disappointed with it. But there’s enough in there to attract a new audience. I didn’t realise the extent of just how much you had to throw into the play because (when I say the show) they made it look quite easy. But when you start to do these things it becomes a bit like football which is a look easier to play shouting from the stands rather than running about for 90 minutes. So it’s a bit like, ‘Until you’ve walked a mile in my shoes, don’t start talking to me about how exhausting it is’.”

Sinclair feels that playing Jeeves is laid down by PG Wodehouse’s description of the character, although the author did describe the conundrum-solving butler as a “God-like creature” who seemed to be omnipresent, appearing almost like magic. “Jeeves also has the answers to everything and if you bear that in mind then it’s quite easy playing it,” he says. “No pressure then, I’m very happy playing God. I think that’s why they cast me actually.”

Could he be at the beck and call of a rich buffoon like Bertie Wooster? “Oh, no. I wouldn’t have the patience for it at all. I’d rather be the useless individual like Bertie.”

The surprise for the Glaswegian is that he’s been asked if his Jeeves is Scottish. “Why would people think that other than I’m speaking to them with a Scottish accent? It’s not hopefully, but I feel that my best English accent will be down to the art of acting,” he jokes.

Not wanting to drag him back to 1981 film Gregory’s Girl (which he reprised 20 years later in Gregory’s Two Girls) I do ask him about his youthful reputation, which he’s enhanced in recent years by being the dad of two small girls, Eva and Anna.

“People say, ‘Why do you keep talking about that film?’ and it’s because people keep asking me. Eventually, I’ve worn away at people always thinking of me as young, particularly as I’ve been writing two novels, the second of which has just come out,” says the 52-year-old, who has also starred in The Producers and was voted Best Actor for the 1994 musical She Loves Me.

“The problem I’m suffering from is that ten of the past 30 years I’ve spent in the West End working but I’ve done virtually nothing up in Scotland. Every time I go back to Scotland people say, ‘What a shame you’re not doing very much’. I’d just finished a year-and-a-half doing The Producers in the West End, but I got asked, ‘Are you still acting?’ So, success of the kind I’ve had doesn’t always work in your favour,” he says.

Fortunately, one of the dates for Jeeves and Wooster is Glasgow and even though the forthcoming tour fills Sinclair with dread at being away from his family, he’s looking forward to “people not asking me if I’m still working”.

A couple of years ago, the actor was seriously ill and unable to take up the offer of joining the award-winning show Matilda. “I had to have an operation on my stomach and it wasn’t terribly serious, but it did coincide with the rehearsals for Matilda because it took too long for my scar to heal. Again, the role of Miss Trunchbull was quite physical and I felt I’d have to pull out. Six weeks later I was fine and have been ever since,” he says.

After the tour of Jeeves and Wooster, Sinclair will be hanging up his penguin suit to go back to writing because it completes a trilogy about two brothers caught up in the troubles of Northern Ireland plus events in Alabama.

“The first two books (Seventy Times Seven and Blood Whispers) have been quite well received. So, if I’m going to top the first two then I’m going to have to spend a bit of time on the next one. I think that the troubles are such a part of British history that is should be on the school curriculum and children taught about the politics and how British soldiers came to be walking around the streets of Britain. Most people don’t know anything about it.”

Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Tuesday, October 14 to Saturday, October 18. Box Office: 08448-112-121 theatreroyal.co.uk