Viv Hardwick talks to actor John Altman, best known for his role as Dot Cotton's rotten son in EastEnders.

HE might be TV's original Nasty Nick, thanks to EastEnders, but the actor is honest John Altman when it comes to his own profession. And, for a prayer-loving Christian, he's quite brutal on the subject.

"A lot of would-be actors send me requests to give them money to get through drama school, but I just chuck them in the bin because I think if you really want to get into the business, and can't afford drama school, there are lots of theatres in the country which will give you a start as an ASM (assistant stage manager)," he growls.

Altman, 51, should know. His big break in theatre was to become an ASM and flyman with the Leeds Grand Theatre and Opera House, who funded his training at York Academy of Speech and Drama.

The result is a versatile performer, capable of playing chilling acts of attempted matricide and murder in EastEnders; leading his own rock band (called Resurrection) and, currently, having his name in lights for a touring version of hit musical Chicago. Altman plays a jazz-singing lawyer called Billy Flynn who craftily manipulates the justice system, involving the cases of two female nightclub singers on death row.

The current tour arrives at Newcastle's Theatre Royal next week for a two-week run.

He's been to see Golden Globe winning Richard Gere as Flynn in the recent film version and says, tongue firmly in cheek: "The thing is he's only done it once and I've done it 447 times. In fact, I hit the 450-mark in Newcastle. I think it's a good film but the girls I'm working with playing Roxie and Velma give a far superior performance. They're the best I've worked with in a year-and-a-half."

He's speaking of Emma Clifford (Roxie) and Lisa Donmall (Velma) who he rates ahead of movie stars Catherine Zeta Jones and Renee Zellweger. Charitably, Altman thinks that the Zeta Jones role wasn't allowed to shine in the movie.

Many years after he was a humble ASM at Leeds, Altman returned in triumph with Chicago for a nostalgic reunion.

"An amazing thing had happened when I worked there because I found a picture of my grandfather, Johnnie Schofield Junior, in a box. I could have gone to any theatre in the country, but in that particular venue I found a picture from my family. I didn't know what my grandfather had acted there and I've kept the picture to this day. I discovered he'd toured the country like his father and was very much a song and dance person. Then there was a group called the Mohawk Minstrels which my great-grandfather was with, so the musical side is definitely in the blood.

"I went back there doing something wonderful like Chicago and in this book at the stage door I found exactly what he'd done. He'd been in a couple of pantomimes in the 1930s."

Altman, who regularly plays the joint Peter Pan role of Hook and Mr Darling, discovered that his grandfather's last performance was as a dame at Wimbledon.

"He used to have a plant in the corner of the stage and he'd water it each time he came on and it was telescopic and shot up so that, by the end of the show, it was as high as the proscenium arch."

Altman suspects that the likes of Morecambe and Wise saw this particular prop joke in music hall and brought it to Britain's TV screens as canes, brooms and clothing which had a life of their own.

The London-based actor departed from EastEnders on crutches in 2001 after his character killed his own son while attempting revenge on Mark Fowler. He's got no idea if Nasty Nick will ever return to terrorise mum Dot. In real life, asked about heaven and hell, he replies: "I believe in a higher power. I do believe in a God, but not necessarily a guy who lives on the clouds. I do say prayers each day and I have a spiritual side after studying all religions. But, no, I don't believe in the fiery furnaces of hell. I believe you can create heaven or hell on earth - the Aldous Huxley adjective. My garden's looking like heaven with the sun shining on it and I've been through hell a few times in my life.

"If you want pure hell try Palestine at the moment."

* Chicago runs for two weeks at Newcastle's Theatre Royal from tomorrow. Box Office: 0870 905 5060