TO millions of TV viewers around the world actor John Challis will forever be known as Boycie; the slightly pompous, nouveau riche car dealer from one of the most popular comedy shows of all time.

He’s just completed the second volume of his autobiography Boycie and Beyond and next Sunday comes to Darwen’s Library Theatre as part of the Blackburn and Darwen Comedy Festival with his one-man show An Evening With Boycie.

“It’s basically me telling a few stories about my life and I’ll be showing a few clips from my career along the way,” said John, “then at the end the audience can ask me a few questions.

“I’m particularly looking forward to coming the Darwen as it’s not an area I’ve really been to in the past.”

As a sparring partner of Del Boy and Rodney on Only Fools and Horses, John remains an instantly recognisable figure.

“When you start out as an actor you always hope that you will become a household name or get to Hollywood,” said John. “But most people know deep down this isn’t going to happen. So to be part of a show like Only Fools and Horses and to have people recognising you in the street is quite difficult to believe.

“The show means so much to people, it’s incredible.

“When I got the script when I joined the show back in 1981 I could see that it was funny but I was doing a lot of episodes of a lot of things at the time. Then as it went on it became obvious that we had something special on our hands.

“I’m still enormously proud of the show, I think we all worked well as a team. But at the heart of it was writer John Sullivan who was an absolute perfectionist.

“He wouldn’t let us have the scripts until he was totally satisfied with them. On several occasions he would hand over a script as the audience was coming in for the recording which kept you on your toes.”

From Only Fools and Horses, John also did four series of the spin-off show Green Green Grass in which Boycie and the long-suffering Marlene headed for a new life in the country.

“When you are part of something so successful,” said John, “it does open up a lot of doors for you.

“You do have to get used to people shouting ‘Hello Boycie’ at you across the street but I take that as a compliment.

“It can be funny sometimes. I was playing Malvolio in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night recently and someone came up to me in the bar and said ‘I didn’t know you were an actor’!”

John has now completed two volumes of his autobiography.

“I have always written things down,” he said, “so it was a case of just getting everything into some kind of order.

“Several people have described the books as honest and I haven’t shied away from difficult periods of my life. Some of the more painful bits, I’d never really confronted before and I found it very cathartic.

“I think writing about something is a great way to settle unresolved issues.”

An Evening with Boycie, Darwen Library Theatre, Sunday, October 14. Details from 01254 706006