Griff is back on the West End stage as the fantastic Dickens villain Fagin.

With a TV career spanning classic comedy to documentaries such as Three Men In A Boat and Rivers, comedian and presenter Griff Rhys Jones, 55, is a much loved national treasure.

Now, after almost a decade off the stage, he's been tempted back to play Charles Dickens’s greatest villain Fagin in the West End production of Oliver!

Griff says: "One of the reasons I decided to do it was that I just love performing. I'd set aside time to do the documentaries the last five years and now I think it's time to go back. I saw the show when Rowan was in it and love it."

Griff has had to grow a beard for the role: "For years I thought I couldn't grow one so I'm quite impressed with myself. I'm trying to grow as much as I can so that I don't have too many bits of false beard stuck on that could fall off when I'm jumping up and down. I will never be able to get it long enough though."