JOHN Nettles prides himself on being bad. Very bad. He is currently swashbuckling his way through Peter Pan at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, as the dastardly Captain Hook.

The more boos he collects the better. And Nettles is netting in barrel loads. The more disapproving hisses his nefarious antics attract the more he is a convincing and contented villain.

But being a baddie at Christmas is no onerous task. For Nettles it is a time to celebrate the artistic liberties panto allows.

He says being the baddie is the only part for legitimate actors to get their teeth into during the panto season.

?For me it is party time at the end of the year. You can let your hair down because it isn?t serious theatre.?

Nettles is a great admirer of good panto, but is conscious that there is a lot of bad panto about that can put people off for life. For him there are stars of panto such as Jack Trip who epitomise everything that should be special and vibrant about such shows.

?You can get good performers that have vaudeville, plus good comic acts which is a huge skill.

?Pantomime can be good vulgar entertainment.

?You can balance what you can bring to it and what it can bring to you and then see if there is a marriage there to make something of it. It is a triumph of form over substance,? he says, adding that the real success lies in the way it is sold to the audience.

?Here at Plymouth we have a good production and good acting. It is a good story. It?s not really a pantomime story.?

He says there is something ?extraordinary? about people that, like Peter Pan, will not grow up.

?There is something exquisitely sad about someone who cannot mature. It is important to hold on to innocence but you cannot always have the eyes of a child.?

The desperate desire to hold on to one?s youth at all costs is not something he admires.

He cites the West Coast of America in particular as a place where eternal youth has become almost an obsession.

?There are face lifts and implants to make people look ridiculously young,? he says.

And while he may feel some regret at the hands of time speeding us on from ?the first flush of youth to the long blush of middle age? he is content to weather it with dignity.

?Doing panto is physically a bit daunting. You don?t have time to look after yourself in panto. You are on twice a day ? it?s a question of sleep, perform, sleep!?

He is enjoying the role of Captain Hook at the Theatre Royal. The last time he was a baddie in Plymouth was as King Rat from Dick Whittington.

As well as his stage work John Nettles has just been seen on the television this Christmas in the BBC?s adaptation of Conan Doyle?s Hound of the Baskervilles, which was set in deepest Dartmoor.

Coming up are six more programmes as Inspector Barnaby in The Midsomer Murders.

He is also well known to the public as Jim Bergerac in the BBC?s long running series of the same name. Unlike some performers who wish to turn their back on previous successes John Nettles has enjoyed his work ? be it on stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company or as a TV detective hunting criminals on Jersey.

?I have happy memories and I?m glad people who watched it have happy memories as well,? he says.

When he hangs up his cutlass after a swashbuckling panto season as Captain Hook it?s a sure bet there will be a whole tide of more happy memories for both audience and actor.