Take Me Out host Paddy McGuinness goes on the road to play his first arena tour, Saturday Night Live, with dates in Blackpool, Liverpool and Manchester, and warm-up shows in Darwen.

“It’s going to be an entertainment show rather than one man and a mic standing there wittering,” he says.

“There’s going to be some music, some acts.”

Music? Will Paddy be crooning to the front row?

“No, no, I’m no Mickey Bubbles,” he says. “I can’t give the game away...”

He pauses. “I say that, I’ve clearly not really got anything planned yet.”

Summer will be spent writing then a handful of warm-up shows to road-test the new material in front of a more intimate audience.

Luckily, for Paddy’s nerves it won’t be the first time he has appeared on stage in an arena —- he hosted last year’s Britain’s Got Talent tour.

He says: “After the first five or six rows you don’t realise you’re in an arena, it’s just like a theatre.”

He adds: “It’s a nice feeling to be writing new stuff again. I’m really looking forward to getting on with it now.”

* Paddy McGuinness' warm-up shows for his Saturday Night Live tour are at Darwen Library Theatre on Thursday, September 15 and Friday, September 16. 8pm. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday, June 10. Telephone the box office on 01254 706006, or call in to Darwen Library Theatre or King George’s Hall in Blackburn.

* Paddy McGuinness' Saturday Night Live tour is at Blackpool Opera House on Friday, October 7, Liverpool Echo Arena on Saturday, October 8 and Manchester Evening News Arena on Saturday, October 29.