THE larger-than-life antics of Jim Davidson have split opinion about his appeal as a performer over the years, but his latest comedy tour, based on his book No Further Action, is about to take audiences through the worst 12 months of his life before victory in last year's Celebrity Big Brother turned his fortunes around.

First it was his beloved dog Benji dying, but his misery was complete after being arrested at Heathrow as part of Operation Yewtree leaving the entertainer with a year-long fight to prove his innocence. Entering Big Brother, he faced being labelled racist and sexist and a generally unpleasant human being, particularly following an unpleasant clash with fellow contestant Linda Nolan. But Davidson emerged victorious.

"The two things that kept me going throughout that year were the support of the public and my friends and the fact that I wrote down everything I was feeling, the facts as well as the demons." he says. "Operation Yewtree made me aware for the first time that I had to have a serious look at myself.

"When I was arrested and the run-up to that arrest, when I knew that something was going on, it made me look inside myself. I had to look deep. I knew I had to defend myself. But at the same time there are many things in my life that I have done wrong. I didn’t do any of it on purpose, but I thought that no one really deserves to have me in their life."

On his previous problems, Davidson adds: "When I was in a drinks clinic I learnt to write down problems. I went years back because I had got into the old Colombian marching powder and was drinking too much. I haven’t touched coke since. I gave up drink for seven years.

‘I still have a drink now, but as it’s Alcoholics Anonymous I drink under a different name. I haven’t had a drink now for a week, but before that I was on a ship with Nigel Farage and my liver said to me, 'Now stop this nonsense'. I went on a business trip to drum up some support for my military charities and also speaking was Nigel Farage. Boy can he drink us all under the table, but he never seems affected by it.’

The 60-year-old has the ability to turn his interrogation by two policemen and a policewoman into a comedy sketch, but it can't have felt like that at the time. He had rows with his wife, Michelle, that year. "After being accused of all these things through Operation Yewtree, now if I’m accused of anything, even leaving the milk out, if I didn’t do it I overreact. There was an overriding fear and self-pity. I only have the truth to say. Anyone else can say what they want. Is this a witch hunt and am I now a witch?"

Davidson admits that he felt he was fighting for his sanity over the police investigation before clearing his name. "I feel pretty good, but it does make you think you never know what’s round the corner. It’s made me wary of planning for the future. I might walk out the door tomorrow and a footballer will come and bite me on the shoulder."

His forthcoming visits to Newcastle and York will be an elongated version of his Edinburgh show. The comedian will be on the road alone. Michelle, who he met at a restaurant in Southampton 14 years ago, never comes to the show. "She gets frightened that people won’t laugh."

As a result of accusations against him, Davidson admits that he’s now afraid of failure. "The desire to be liked is part of who I am. So, for someone with that psychological footprint it doesn’t suit any of the crimes I was accused of. Some of those accusations were horrendous and some were trivial. One was about pinching a girl’s bum in a pub. Imagine, people I haven’t spoken to in ages, you feel so rotten ringing them up. 'Hello, remember me. What were we doing in 1983?'"

Now his ordeal is the subject of a book and a stage show, he feels he can laugh about it. "Yes. The further I am away from it, the better I feel and can get on with life. When I was growing up I was always confident, a show-off," says the man who now reflects on getting older and realises that that life has been good. "I’m a comedian and surely the bubble will burst," he says.

Davidson has been married five times. "Before I met Michelle I got an OBE and three ex-wives, like The Witches of Eastwick, all turned up. They all said, when I was accused of something that it didn’t happen, they’d all be there with me and for me... and they were."

Davidson certainly never saw himself as racist or sexist. "I’m fed up with that a little bit. But regret is a useless emotion, so it’s about what I do now and what I do with my life now rather than any mistake I might have made.

"Before I thought there was one set of rules for the world and another for me. I had lots of money and energy and was fun to be around. I think I wore the wives out. You can’t stay out till four in the morning every night. You can’t have a pint of lager for breakfast every day. But I do wish I hadn’t been so reckless and saved a few more quid.’

His treats now are not big nights out or holidays, but spending time with his two little white dogs, Bertie, a lhasa apso, and Oscar, is a coton de tulear.

"Bertie is very laid back. Oscar is a bit mad, a special needs dog, a postman biter."

Do the two dogs represent the two sides of his personality? "That’s right. I wake up and say I’m feeling a little bit Bertie, but I might get a little bit Oscar later."

Oct 23, Mill Volvo Tyne Theatre. Box Office: 01912-431-171; Nov 9, York Opera House, 08448-713-024