WITH spells in three of TVs biggest shows C Coronation Street, Emmerdale and The Royal C to his credit, Paul Fox feels its time to give viewers a break from seeing his face.

Now 28, when he left drama college his ambition was just to work. Winning roles in those three series almost back-to-back meant he didnt have to think about it. I seem to have got a little more ambitious as I got older. I didnt know what was out there before, he says.

I know the directors Id like to work with and the theatres Id like to work at. Thats made me more ambitious. When I was younger, I thought films wouldnt be in my grasp at all, but Ive lots of friends who are doing well in them in America.

In between his stints in British soaps, he found time to spend a year in Canada filming a sci-fi series, Starhunter, which has been shown in the US but not over here.

It was set on a spaceship floating around in space. I was the ships mechanic, he was slightly dozy. It was all guns and beam me up Scotty stuff. It was great fun but hard work, as there was a core five actors and we were in all the time C all day, every day, six days a week. C because of the quick schedule, he says.

Hes back in Yorkshire, where he filmed Emmerdale and The Royal, for one of the roles that will keep him away from TV. He plays a young First World War soldier in a revival of Louise Pages play, Salonika, at West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds.

Josephine Tewson, probably best known as Hyacinth Buckets neighbour in BBC1s Keeping Up Appearances and as lovesick librarian Miss Davenport in Last Of The Summer Wine, plays an elderly woman holidaying in Greece with her daughter (played by Lynn Farleigh) and recalling her late husband Ben (Fox).

I did a couple of plays last year, Twelfth Night and a new comedy, and really wanted to focus on stage work. My other theatre jobs have been sporadic. Id like to get a nice number of roles under my belt, he says.

The part made him read up on the period and the British presence in Salonika. I knew the basics about the First World War, but its really interesting to go further into that, about the call-up of soldiers and those who volunteered, he says.

Bens stuck in 1918 but goes through this journey of discovery, along with his widow, his daughter and other people.

He made his stage debut during his Emmerdale days playing one of the star-crossed lovers in Romeo & Juliet at York Theatre Royal. Auditions came up, they were seeing a lot of young guys and my agent said I should go for it, he says.

The experience was something of a baptism of fire, although hes since done two more Shakespeare productions in between playing Mike Baldwins long-lost son in the Street and Dr Mark Redman in The Royal, spending three-and-a-half years in the hospital-set ITV series.

I never seem to get recognised for The Royal, he says. If it happens, its Coronation Street, which is strange because it was six years ago. But you are in peoples living rooms four nights a week.

Salonika doesnt mean a complete end to appearing in front of the camera. He filmed underwater scenes in a diving tank, showing Ben drowning, that will be projected during the stage play.

ö Salonika continues at West Yorkshire Playhouse until February 16. Tickets 0113- 2137700.