The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel takes to the stage in Guildford

Dates on tour include Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre from April 25-29.

“And the really great thing about the show is that it is such a feel-good show,” says Paul who appeared in The Real Marigold Hotel series on BBC One in March 2017, which, as he says, is maybe why the producers thought of him for the stage show. “I know it sounds corny but we've had a lot of lockdowns and we just need something that will make us feel good, particularly for older people. It's a great example of how life does not have to end when you are over 65. There's a great line in the piece that we're not old; we've just been young for a very long time. We're not old fogies. It doesn't matter if you can't do 100 metres in 9.3 seconds. The important thing is just to remain active. The important thing is when you get up in the morning that you have something to do. I'm 77 years old and fortunately we're one of the few professions where you can keep going as long as people want to see you. I think actors are lucky that we enjoy doing what we do and the great thing is that it keeps you occupied. You are learning lines. You have to move.

"Actors are a bit like children anyway. Actors tend to like to play, and the point is this is great fun. “My memory is probably no better than yours but when you have to do it, you do it. I think lack of memory in some cases might be a bit of a slight laziness really but if you have to remember something, if you are still relatively fit and if you're getting paid to do it, then you can do it, and we are incredibly lucky that this is our job. It's a fun play. It's quite funny. It's very touching as well. There's a certain idea of romance which my character is involved in, and it's also a lovely coming together of cultures. And there are also young people in it. We're not all 110!

“The film did very well commercially and the book has done very well and I think it's good to have a product that people are perhaps familiar with but I haven't seen the film. I didn't see it when it came out and with this I thought that I've just go with what I've got on the page and with what the director and the writer are saying. And if they like what I'm doing then that is enough, but I might watch the film at some point.” And of course it's fantastic to come out of lockdown: “I had 18 months out of work. But I made an album of songs that I had recorded from shows and a few pop songs. The album was called Paul Nicholas Gold, a slightly pretentious title! And I wrote a little autobiography about my career called Musicals Marigolds And Me.

"So the pandemic was not really too hard for me just as long as you keep occupied and I was lucky enough to have the album and also the book.”

Tickets for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel at yvonne-arnaud.co.uk/whats-on/best-exotic-marigold-hotel