Why Ted is just an ordinary, everyday showbiz star

But in reality we ended up chatting for over an hour about everything from his wife's new salsa class to Jeremy Kyle ("The only time my kids have been impressed was when I told them I'd been speaking to him!") I arrived at the BBC Radio Lancashire studio, in Blackburn, while Ted was just finishing presenting his daily show.

And not 30 seconds after he came off air was he peering round the corner into reception, asking if I wanted a cuppa.

After a whistle-stop tour of the newsroom - where his colleagues urged me to use the headline "Ted Robbins: a man with a face for radio" - I was ushered into the kitchen, where he made me a cup of tea and we settled down for a chat.

"Ted Sez Les is a comic tribute to the late Les Dawson," said Ted.

"I worked with Les a lot. I did a summer season with him, understudied him, I went to his wedding and I've done panto with him.

"Me and Judy (Ted's wife) became good friends with him and his wife Tracy.

"I recreate his 'over the garden wall' Cissie and Ada sketch.

"I become Ada and we pick a member of the audience and during the interval we transform him into Cissie with the help of a padded bra and stockings.

"I also do some stand-up stuff, I tell some stories and talk about life in Lancashire and the funny things people say.

"One of my favourites is when we were doing a nativity for radio and one little girl said 'We couldn't do a practice yesterday, Ted'.

"I asked her why not and she said, 'because the Virgin Mary had nits.' I love stuff like that."

For those outside the county, Ted is probably best known for his role as the dastardly Den Perry, the man who set fire to the Phoenix Club in Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights.

"Phoenix Nights is probably the single best thing that's happened in my career," said Ted.

"It gave me a public prominence and it made people consider me for different things."

What makes Ted so popular with the public, I venture, is that he has a knack of making people feel as though he's talking directly to them, whether on TV or the radio.

Ted agrees that his down-to-earth manner makes people believe they know him personally - so much so that Judy has started refusing to take him to the shops because it takes too long. Too many people want to stop to talk.

But Ted puts his likeabilty down to good manners, drummed into him by his mother Betty.

"My mum is a lovely lady," he said.

"She's 77 and she brought us all up with a great deal of love and taught us to listen to people and try to be kind to people and that's what I try to do on the radio.

"I think people realise that I don't think I'm anything special.

"I never believed that being in showbiz made you a special person.

"This sounds puke-making but to me special people are those who get up at the crack of dawn and wipe people's backsides and don't moan about it."

And it's often the touching messages he receives from fans that keep Ted going when he's having a bad day.

"I keep a little letter with me that says: 'Dear Ted, me and my husband listened to your radio show and I and wanted to let you know that you made us smile at a time when we had very little to smile about'.

"The lady's husband had just been told his cancer was terminal and they were sitting together listening to the show and had laughed together at something I'd said.

"After he died she wrote saying she thought I'd like to know I brought them some happiness at a very sad time.

"When I'm feeling fed up with my job I have a look at that letter. Just thinking about it sets me off."

Ted gets frustrated with showbiz types who believe their fame makes them above others.

"The trouble with showbiz is that people get wound up because they didn't get a Bafta or because someone's earning more money than them," he said.

"I'm not saying I don't do that, because I do, but the thing is you've got to keep a sense of perspective.

"We're all just human beings after all and we shouldn't get carried away with our self-importance.

"You know the old saying, 'The graveyard is full of indispensable people'."

Lancastrians have taken Ted to their hearts but he only moved to the area 18 years ago after marrying Judy, who was the Mayor of Hyndburn's daughter.

He was born in Liverpool but his father Mike Robbins's various jobs in showbiz meant they moved all over the country.

"Dad used to say a moving target was harder to hit," joked Ted.

This upbringing must have made its mark, as all of the Robbins siblings have dipped their toes into the showbiz pool at one time or another.

Kate is an impressionist who worked on Spitting Image; she and Jane, now a sculptress, sang the UK's 1980 Eurovision entry in the group Prima Donna; Emma is one of the Sheila's Wheels girls from the insurance advert and is married to the man who plays Teletubby Tinky Winky; and Amy has a part in The Royal alongside husband Robert Davies.

"I think the reason we've all been successful is that we never believed showbiz was anything other than a lot of hard graft and that you make your own luck," said Ted.

"Dad still sees himself as compere of our family show.

"If we have a family get-together and someone talks while someone is telling a joke, he'll say: 'Be quiet, your sister's working'.

"He talks like everyone is in showbiz, even if a new boyfriend or someone outside the family is there and they tell a joke that's a bit rude, he'll shake his head and say: 'He's working it too blue.' "I have to say, 'Not everyone's in showbiz, dad'. He's quite a character."

Ted Sez Les, is at the Thwaites Empire Theatre, Blackburn, on Saturday, June 23.