I partied so hard I woke up on the street. People were throwing coins. They thought I was homeless...

DARREN DAY remembers his fall from grace with vivid clarity. "I was playing Danny Zuko in Grease - a dream role," he tells me. "I always wanted to play Danny, it was one of my favourite movies, and in 1999 I was given the role in the West End, but I was in big trouble at the time.

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The former fresh face of ITV had succumbed to the murky pulls of cocaine and alcohol.

"I did two shows on Saturday, and after the evening show I went out and partied. I came to at 10 or 11am on Monday. I was propped up outside the Cambridge Theatre and woke up to the clinking of coins hitting the pavement - people thought I was homeless.

"I looked up and saw my name in pink neon lights... I was obviously completely unrecognisable."

Essex-born Darren, now happily sober, has been engaged to actress Sophie Ladds for five years and is looking forward to reprising his role as Billy Flynn in the touring production of Chicago next month. But he is brutally honest about his past mistakes, and, refreshingly, he blames nobody but himself for his downfall.

Day, 56, had been the golden boy of light entertainment, the wholesome host of ITV's Saturday night hit You Bet! with glamorous girlfriends and the world at his feet. But it just wasn't enough for him.

His big break came in 1993 when he replaced Philip Schofield as the lead in the West End run of Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

"I was singing in clubs and working part time as a labourer on building sites when [former Radio One DJ turned showbiz manager] Peter Powell got me an audition for Joseph. I didn't think I'd get it, but I thought at least I can stand on stage and sing a couple of songs for Andrew Lloyd Webber."

Fame struck like lightning. "I couldn't walk down a street without being recognised. On my first Saturday at the London Palladium there were 3,000 girls at the stage door stopping the traffic.

"Nigel Lythgoe at LWT signed up me and I signed my first record deal with Simon Cowell at RCA, I was earning a fortune" - he was taking home £10,000 a week from Joseph alone.