HIS career is on the line, his marriage is in danger of falling apart and he has to contend with a wandering senile patient, an assortment of matrons and a syringe full of tranquilliser.

That's a brief outline of the role played with aplomb by Hi-de-Hi star Jeffrey Holland in the hospital farce It Runs In The Family, which arrives at the Blackpool Grand on Tuesday.

When it comes to comic confusion laden with innuendos and misunderstandings, Holland makes the ideal choice.

Having won countless fans in his role as entertainer Spike Dixon in television's favourite holiday camp comedy, where farcical situations were a weekly occurrence, his new role as Dr David Mortomore was familiar territory for him.

However, less familiar to most people will be the fact that Jeffrey's theatrical origins lie not in comic capers, but in Shakespeare.

"I've worked with actors like John Gielgud and Derek Nimmo," said Jeffrey, referring to his early roles in BBC productions of Richard II and As You Like It. "It was rather daunting at the time, but it's something I'm very proud to have done."

Jeffrey then went from reading the Bard to treading the boards as a cast member in the Dad's Army stage show.

He said: "There I was, at the age of 29 playing a member of Captain Mainwaring's platoon. They were all there -- all the faces you knew off the television. It was wonderful."

Despite being a little on the young side for the role, Jeffrey acquitted himself well and his role proved his passport into a series of comedies with Jimmy Perry and David Croft.

The first of those, Hi-de-Hi, proved a massive hit and ran for eight years.

Jeffrey said: "We had a ball while we were filming and we were regularly pulling in between 15 and 17 million viewers. Nothing does that on TV nowadays."

For most people, Jeffrey's yellowcoat-chasing partnership with Paul Shane, who played Ted Bovis, is a particularly fond memory of the show. Jeffrey said: "While Paul was a stand-up comic who had come into acting, I was a young actor playing the role of a comic. We got on very well. I was able to help him with the acting side and he helped me with the comedy."

In 1988 Hi-de-Hi's run finally came to an end and Jeffrey, Paul and Su Pollard moved on, first to You Rang M'Lord, which proved moderately successful, then to the less popular Oh, Doctor Beeching.

However, he remains pleased to have worked on so many Perry-Croft vehicles.

In It Runs in the Family, Jeffrey stars alongside his long-term partner Judy Buxton, known to TV fans as Ruth Carpenter in On The Up.

Jeffrey said: "It's fun to work together and I'm sure it makes the play even more enjoyable to watch."

Catch It Runs in the Family at the Blackpool Grand from May 27 to 31. Call (01253) 743232 for details.