‘AS fun as Me and My Girl’, that’s how good Gary Wilmot promises Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is going to be when it stops at the Bristol Hippodrome this October.

TV and theatre star Gary is rejoining the cast of this rip-roaring comedy set on the French Riveria, this time in a touring version, and says he cannot wait to reprise his role as Inspector Andre.

“It is a really seriously funny show,” he told the Gazette.

“They don’t come along very often but this is a real laugh out loud kind of show.”

Based on the 1988 film starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is the story of two men competing to swindle an American heiress out of $50,000. Charming British con man Lawrence Jamieson and arrogant American rival Freddy Benson realise this town ain’t big enough for the both of them as they battle over their territory.

Gary, whose appearance in West End favourite Me and My Girl back in the 1980s led to a glittering theatre career including roles in Oliver!, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Copacabana, only landed the role as Inspector Andre in the London run by accident.

“I went to see the matinee show one Thursday afternoon with my wife,” he said. “I went back stage to meet Robert Lindsay (who was starring in the show) who asked me what I was up to and I said I was just finishing Oklahoma.

“By Monday I was in rehearsals.”

Despite only having two weeks to rehearse for the tour, Gary said he couldn’t wait to join the show again in Torquay on September 8.

“It is great fun,” said former children's TV presenter Gary. “It is anarchic and unusual and a little bit like Me and My Girl all those years ago.

“Audiences will have an evening they will remember forever. That is what we do in this business and I guarantee it is a show you will remember for a long, long time.”

The touring version of this slick and musical also stars Michael Praed, Hearsay’s Noel Sullivan and former Hollyoaks actress Carly Stenson. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels comes to the Bristol Hippodrome from October 6 to 10.