Jason Donovan will reprise the role of Tick in the touring production of PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT as it visits Wales Millennium Centre next week, he chats to ANDY HOWELLS about the show…

JASON DONOVAN is back in Cardiff next week, this time in the role of Tick, the part he played when Priscilla Queen of the Desert originally opened in the West End. The role is just one of many strings to Jason’s bow, making up a career that has spanned over 25 years from a regular role on Australian TV soap Neighbours via pop superstardom to the stage.

“I never anticipated Neighbours and how that would launch my career,” he told me recently, “ I've been a freelancer for nearly 30 years I don’t believe in luck. I think you create your own luck in life and I was fortunate to be blessed with a father (The actor, Terence Donovan) who was in the business. I was brought up as an only child, so its I wanted to do. I t wasn’t what I thought was going to be my destiny, but be careful what you wish for!”

Jason's spells in television in recent years have included I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and reaching the final of 2012's ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ but it hasn't get in the way of his successful stage career which has seen him juggle roles in both Priscilla and Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of war of The Worlds on stage.

“I love doing War of the Worlds," he says, " it’s a big show but its not a massive amount of time on stage but you get to achieve all you want to achieve in one show, your playing to 10 to 15,000 people that can take two weeks in a normal size theatre.”

Jason also enjoys the audiences Priscilla brings him too, “ It’s nice to keep working and be busy, for me that's an important part of life. Priscilla is a great show; it’s Australian, so I guess it’s quite logical I’m doing it as I’m known for musicals as much as I’m known for other stuff. I guess the producers were keen to get me involved and one thing lead to another really. I’m an interpreter of stories I consider my acting my strength.”

With all the work keeping him busy does Jason find it hard to balance his family life with his career? “I try and make sure I’m home as much as I can be. There’s not too many entertainers on this earth who can sit in one town and achieve the success they want to achieve you have to travel with this business that’s just part of the game.”

To book tickets for Priscilla Queen of the Desert visit www.wmc.org.uk or call 02920 63 6464. Tickets range from £15 - £60. Age guidance 15+. The show runs from January 7 to 18.