IF someone who bears a striking resemblance to EastEnders ‘Nasty’ Nick is spotted running across the North York Moors this winter, don’t be scared, says Lucy Richardson

It won't be the latest plot twist involving tv’s original badboy on the run from Albert Square, but because his ego, John Altman, is performing in pantomime at Middlesbrough Theatre.

AT the photocall to promote ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ I was banned from interviewing the two actors who had signed up for back ache and nightly sweats inside a cow suit, by theatre manager, David Lindsey, who kept insisting: “There is no one in there! The cow is real!”

Pantomine is surreal. There is just something bizarre about adults cross-dressing or prancing about in shiny costumes usually seen on children at fancy dress parties.

So perhaps it should come as no surprise that an iconic villain in the British psyche who has made viewers’ spines tingle for almost three decades is stepping into a parallel universe by playing Fleshcreep, the giant’s henchman on stage.

With his trademark swagger and slicked back hair, the character of Nick Cotton looks like the warped older brother of Danny Zuko the Artful Dodger, but he has swapped his leather jacket for a pirate coat.

He appeared in the first explosive episode of EastEnders back in 1985 when the character of Reg Cox was found slumped in his chair after being savagely attacked. Years later villain admitted to the pensioner’s murder and went on to kill again before attempt to poison his own long-suffering mother, Dot.

After faking his own death earlier this year he is set to return for his sixth stint this autumn to mark the soap’s 30th anniversary.

While Nasty Nick will be making the lives of Walford residents a misery this Christmas he’ll be booed and hissed at daily in Middlesbrough.

“It’ll be great to get an instant reaction and hopefully I’ll be mingling with the audiences. It’s pantomime but I’ll still be menacing and evil,” he assures me with a smile.

Although he'll be eternally linked with the playing the heroin-addicted low-life, John, who looks amazing for 62, lives an altogether cleaner life.

When I tell him that I’d recently seen pictures of him out jogging in the tabloid press he says he often swims, plays cricket and is looking forward to running in the North York Moors. “You need stamina for a job like this if you’re doing two shows a day. Your body and your face are your fortune when you’re an actor. I used to drink everything but gave up 17 years ago, and gave up smoking 10 years ago,” he explains.

To have been able to get in and out of Nasty Nick’s head over the past 30 years, John says there are certain triggers that help him flick that switch.

“We all have a dark side, no matter who you are, whether you are the Queen or Brad Pitt. I use things that make me angry to get into character like the slaughtering of camels and the destruction of Gaza.

“I find it abominable that the world can stand back and criticise Putin for his involvement in the Ukraine but Israel murdered more than 500 children in its last bombardment, against a people that has no army,” he says.

He never expected the role of Nick Cotton to make such an indelible impression on the British psyche for so long, but the singer and actor whose film credits include Quodrophenia and Birth of the Beatles still has ambitions to fulfill. “I haven’t played the West End, I would love to work in Hollywood and I would love a number one single.”

During his five weeks in Teesside this winter, he will be reunited with comedian and impressionist Danny Posthill, after they performed together in panto two years ago in Stockport.

Persuaded to enter his school talent show when he was 16, since then he has been making people laugh around the world. For Jack & The Beanstalk, the bald 26-year-old from Hartlepool is getting in touch with his feminine side by stepping into the sparkly shoes of Dame Dotty Durden.

“When I get into the costume the transformation just happens, it’s much harder to act the part in jeans and a t-shirt. It’s great to put the boobs on and then the wig is the icing on the cake,”

“When my mum came to see the show in Stockport she could hardly look at me and my dad thought I looked like my mum. My girlfriend was freaked out,” Danny adds.

“It’s really weird when I come home and go out to the pub with my friends who are welders or offshore and we talk about our jobs. What I'm able to do on stage every night is fantastic, we can have fun and help people escape from their problems and the beauty of pantomime is that often it’s children’s first experience of pantomime.”

Danny has invited John to spend Christmas Day with his family in Hartlepool, which he imagines, will have its own cliffhanger ending.

“Can you imagine watching EastEnders on Christmas Day night with Nasty Nick sitting next to you on the sofa and he know’s what’s going to happen next?”

Jack & The Beanstalk by Middlesbrough Theatre and Extravaganza Productions is being performed at Middlesbrough Theatre from Friday, December 5, to Sunday, January 4. For tickets call the box office on 01642-815181 or visit www.middlesbroughtheatre.co.uk