"Well, Ruth did betray him by sleeping with Finn and Ruth had an abortion and didn't tell him and Tony bought him out of The Loft. OK, Louis was a loser, but everybody he loved betrayed him. Hang on, this is really strange, why on earth am I talking about this?"

It has been six years since Ben Hull quit playing Lewis Richardson in Channel 4 youth soap Hollyoaks. A basically decent fellow with, the script suggested, an inescapable genetic predisposition toward violent misogyny, Lewis eventually died one of soaps' most disturbing and drawn-out deaths after failing to commit suicide with an overdose of pain killers.

In order to recreate the effects of a gradually dissolving liver, for weeks Hull endured three-hour make-up calls, during which he was painted yellow and fitted with lenses which made him look like he was crying custard. Unfortunately, the award for Best Exit at the 2002 Soap Awards was snapped up by Batley the dog from Emmerdale.

"I won't repeat what I turned round and said to James Redmond but the clean translation was, Gosh, a dog's won it!'" laughs Hull. "We didn't mind really, you can't compete with the biggies. At least at all those awards dos the Hollyoaks cast always drank more than anyone."

These days, anyway, Hull is trying to leave the soap world behind him - which means teaming up with fellow ex-soap stars Steven Pinder (Brookside), Samantha Giles (Emmerdale) and Kerry Peers (The Bill), and Seventies favourite Robin Askwith, for a revival of the multi-award-winning Terry Johnson play Dead Funny.

The Dead Funny Society are a group of misfits who meet to celebrate the memory of dead comedians.

On finding out about the deaths of the legendary Benny Hill and Frankie Howerd, Richard (Pinder) abandons his long-suffering wife Eleanor (Peers) to commiserate with fellow society members Lisa (Giles) and Nick (Hull).

Amidst the slapstick and sketch re-enactments, secrets are revealed which promise to change the lives of this group of friends forever.

"It's basically lots of arguments with silly impressions to lighten the mood," says Hull. "It's a bit like when I was at school and everyone would try to do the best impression of the Young Ones - getting the routine right is a sort of badge of honour for the society. I always corpse when me and Steven do Eric and Ernie.

Hull gets his own back, however, when Pinder's character engages in sex counselling and has to get his kit off. "What's really funny is when I went to the audition I thought I was auditioning for his part - God, this is pun-mungous isn't it," he says. "Actually, the first thing I ever shot for telly was having sex on the bonnet of a car, and then in Revelations I was stripped naked and tied to a saddle rack and had champagne poured all over me.

"Still, Steven Pinder naked, eh. It'll either pack 'em in or drive 'em away."

  • Starts 7.45pm, Wed and Sat matinees 2.30pm, tickets from £13.50. Call 01323 412000.