Anita Merritt caught up with former EastEnders star Todd Carty ahead of his visit to Devon with the stage version of Monty Python’s hilarious Spamalot.

TAKING mementos from each of his acting jobs is becoming a bit of a habit for Todd Carty and that's why he happens to have a pair of halved coconuts hanging up in his kitchen at home.

For nearly two years the former EastEnders star has been playing the role of Patsy the coconut-playing assistant to King Arthur in Monty Python's Spamalot.

Luckily he has a spare pair and it will be those he will be clashing together on stage at Torquay's Princess Theatre when the show arrives there from Monday, February 13 until Saturday, February 18.

The star-studded cast also includes comedian Marcus Brigstocke as King Arthur and Bonnie Langford as Lady of the Lake.

Thriving on the live reaction from the audience, Todd admitted: "Nothing touches it really. If you get a gag in the right place and the audience laugh in the right place it's just the best.

"If you're doing television you get to do it again and again but you only get one chance on stage and sometimes things do go awry! When the Knights Who Say Ni come on with King Arthur that's when it often does.

"You get the audience shouting 'Ni' and some people come dressed as Knights of the Round Table. It's got a huge cult following."

The 48-year-old, who has grown up on television screens in a variety of roles, has enjoyed varied stage work from pantomime to serious drama.

Spamalot tells the legendary tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and features a bevy of beautiful showgirls and witch burnings, not to mention cows, killer rabbits and French people.

The show features the hilarious songs He Is Not Dead Yet, Knights Of The Round Table, Find Your Grail and, of course, Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life.

It has been the love of his character and the story, but definitely not the big heavy backpack he has to carry around the stage every night, that has proved too hard for Todd to tear himself away from.

"I had a six-month break and now I'm back," he said. "I've had fun doing it so when they asked if I wanted to come back I did. Crunching my coconuts and singing Always Look on the Bright Side of Life is good therapy!

"It's just very silly. It took me three years of training at Oxford University to learn to crunch my coconuts.

"At the end of the show people get involved and stand up and really enjoy it.

"I love looking out and seeing an eight-year-old enjoying it as much as a 90-year-old granny. It really appeals across the board."

The tour ends in May and the only plan Todd has for the rest of 2012 is spending time with his family.

"I've got sons aged 15 and 11 so spending time with them would be great and having a bit of dad time," he said.

"Hand on heart I've nothing else planned. If something comes along or a producer wants to throw money at me then that's fine.

"I've been lucky to have picked up some good work since my Grange Hill days and hopefully long may that continue."

In fact, Todd has never known anything but a life of acting. His mother, an amateur dramatics enthusiast, enrolled Todd at a Saturday morning drama class when he was four.

Todd recalled: "The class had a children's agency attached to it and way back then, when I had hair and teeth, I was cheeky looking and did some commercials and it went from there. I've really known nothing else."

His big break was being cast as Tucker Jenkins in Grange Hill. The other role he is famous for is as market trader Mark Fowler in EastEnders.

Describing his 12 years on the soap opera, Todd said: "It sounds very corny but it was very much like being part of a family with the likes of Wendy (Richards), Bill (Treacher) and Susan (Tully). You have your own little sets and storylines so you do become very close.

"The reason I moved on was the show producer of The Bill Paul Marquess, who said he was a fan of my character Tucker in Grange Hill, asked me if instead of playing nice guys all the time, did I want to play an evil policeman who kills his way through Sun Hill?

"I was told the character was going to be a little bit dark and they certainly weren't joking!

"If I didn't leave I knew I might not get the chance to play someone so different again. Parts like that do not come up very often."

With a heavy heart Todd parked up his motorbike, hung up his famous black leather jacket, and bid farewell to his EastEnders colleagues.

What Todd couldn't bear to leave behind though was his leather jacket which is just one of his many acting mementos.

"I did take it," he laughs. "Actually they gave it to me. Do I wear it? No, I'm not that eccentric! I also don't have spotlights going around my mirror. I have a few other bits from other roles too."

Staying in touch with his EastEnders friends isn't too difficult because some of them live near his home, creating their own real-life soap opera.

"I live in an area where there are lots of soap stars and actors," revealed Todd. "It's a bit like that comedy soap opera Stella Street! I'm always bumping into them in the local supermarket. Even if I didn't want to see them we're always bumping into each other in every corner where we live."

When his character policeman Gabriel Kent in The Bill had finally finished his killing spree, Todd left after two years in 2005.

The work has continued ever since and one of Todd's most memorable television moments was his unforgettable and now legendary stumble off set during a live performance on ITV's Dancing on Ice in 2009.

"My children were there that night," cringed Todd. "They thought they would never see their father again when I went through that tunnel! Two burly guys threw me back onto the ice which is why I was more wobbly when I appeared back through the tunnel. Being an actor I just wanted to finish the show dramatically!"

It has become a YouTube classic and Todd still can't escape it no matter where he goes, not even the bank.

"I had a woman approach me the other day who had chronic heart problems," he revealed. "She said she watched the show on that night and said she nearly choked to death laughing. She was still laughing again when I left the bank."

Luckily Todd has many other talents he can fall back on. He directed his first feature film The Perfect Burger in 2010 and hopes to do more in the future.

"I'll just see what life throws at me. It could end up being a soap? Maybe Coronation Street needs a little cockney wideboy. People don't seem to think cockneys travel outside of London but maybe we should have one in the Yorkshire Dales or Weatherfield stirring up some trouble?"

Tickets for the show range from £14.50 to £39.50. Call 0844 871 7627 or visit www.princesstheatre. org.uk