NEW YORK, Barbados, Blackpool... perennial party-goer Christopher Biggins loves to visit them all.

And we caught up with him as he attended the launch of Blackpool Grand Theatre's 2002 season.

"I love seaside resorts," said the 53-year-old actor as we sipped coffee in the bistro. "And Blackpool is a great town.

"But I really think it should take on the Las Vegas idea. Blackpool needs a higher profile to bring people back and also to attract another audience.

"I'd love to do a panto here though. I've been directing, co-writing and half-producing the panto in Cambridge for the last three years, but I really would love to bring it here."

The famous Biggins' glasses have now been replaced by soft contact lenses, thanks he says to "that dreadful Timmy Mallett wearing the same ones so I had to change."

And fans will see Christopher at the Grand this April as the elitist, homosexual drama critic Mr Christie in Charles Vance's Who Killed 'Agatha' Christie?

"We start rehearsing soon and I'm going to base my character on a vile London theatre critic I know," said Christopher. "He's such a bitter man and there really is no need for it. But I'm going to use all the bitterness he projects in my performance. So in a way he's done me a favour!

"The play itself is very much a thriller and someone obviously gets killed, but it's quite surprising how. The twists will take the audience's breath away."

But never mind all that! What parties has he been to recently?

"Well I was at Joan's wedding at the weekend!" (He means Collins of course). "And then before that I was in New York for the opening of my friend Bea Arthur's (of the Golden Girls) one-woman show. And before that Barbados."

Who Killed 'Agatha' Christie? is at the Grand from April 29 to May 4. Call the box office on (01253) 290190 for details and tickets from £8.