City feels like home as Shane returns for panto

EASTENDERS STAR REVEALS HE WAS BUSTED FOR VAGRANCY

- By WILLIAM TELFORD [e-mail]

Shane Richie is appearing in panto Dick Whittington, at Theatre Royal Plymouth this Christmas

TV star Shane Richie may be the epitome of a Londoner, but when the EastEnders actor appears in panto in Plymouth this Christmas it will be something of a homecoming - Richie says it is “well documented” that he was once busted for vagrancy in Britain's Ocean City.

But he went further in a chat with The Herald, revealing how he ended up in Plymouth as a 16-year-old in the first place, became a new romantic and crashed in a flat above a house of ill repute.

He was run out of town ‘by the fuzz’ after a job went south, he ran out of cash and ‘ended up kipping rough on park benches and in the railway station.’ He's been back to Plymouth many times since, performing at Theatre Royal Plymouth, and has friends in the area.

He's got a genuine affection for the place and can’t wait to get back to Plymouth when he stars in Dick Whittington at TRP in December and January.

The 61-year-old is looking forward to treading the boards and strolling down the Barbican’s cobbles, checking out the city’s bars, restaurants and antique dens.

“Plymouth has been a big part of my life for a long time,” he told The Herald. “I have had a long relationship with Plymouth. When I was 16 I was homeless and done for vagrancy in Plymouth. That was in 1980. It formed some of my formative years.

“I became a new romantic in Plymouth, even though it started in London. I was offered a job as a DJ in Stonehouse. I found the new romantic thing, there was something androgynous about it. I had long hair and wore makeup and got stuff from charity shops.