LES DAWSON was a man of many talents. The comedian, who died 20 years ago, is fondly remembered for his monologues full of inventive dialogue, his deliberately off-key piano playing, the man behind the fat dance troupe the Roly Polys and his peerless stint as a game show host on Blankety Blank.

But his most lasting legacy is probably Cissie and Ada, the gossiping old biddies whose innuendo-laden sketches graced his television shows for many years.

There will never be another Les Dawson, but Cissie and Ada have been memorably brought back to life in a new stage play which is touring the country and visited Darlington this week.

The show not only recreates many of the beloved television sketches, but also provides a background to how the characters were created. And it focuses on Dawson’s torment in writing and performing the shows while his wife was fighting cancer, a little known facet of his life.

Eric Potts was convincing as Dawson – even if he was unable to match the Northern comic’s gurning antics – and his performance was full of humour and pathos.

Steve Nallon, as Dawson’s sidekick Roy Barraclough, proved a perfect foil and captured Ada’s mannerisms to a tee.

And a more than honourable mention must go to Steven Arnold and Natasha Magigi, playing Dawson’s writer and wardrobe assistant respectively, who earned one of the biggest laughs of the night when attempting to recreate the Cissie and Ada characters themselves.

But fittingly it was Potts who stole the show, delighting the audience by tackling the Dawson role with gusto and obvious glee. He couldn’t fill Dawson’s shoes – nobody could – but it was a bravura performance nonetheless.