TV Personality Christopher Peacock Set for TADZIO SPEAKS... at Lord Stanley Theatre, July 6-21

Many people remember Christopher Peacock as a familiar face on London television screens. For ten years as crime reporter on ITV's London Tonight he criss-crossed the capital covering such significant events as the murder of Stephen Lawrence, IRA bombings and the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Then one wet afternoon in Waterloo Station in 2008 he picked up a copy of The Stage and saw inside an advertisement seeking mature actors for a drama school. There and then he made the decision to start a new, uncertain career.

He got in to the school in Hoxton, run by David Harris. "I both loved and hated every minute of it," Christopher says. "David was a big personality, always critical, but he made sure we learned our craft."

Since then Christopher has been seen regularly on stages in London and across the South-East. He enjoys both classical and modern roles, from the Ghost in Hamlet to Sir Johnstone Kentley in Rope. Last month he was in Brighton, appearing as Canon Chasuble in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.

Christopher's most challenging role is coming up next month, when he appears in the premiere of a one-man play, Tadzio Speaks . . . at the Lord Stanley Theatre in Camden.

Tadzio was the beautiful youth in Death in Venice, Thomas Mann's famous story, later filmed by Luchino Visconti, of an older man who becomes obsessed with a beautiful teenage boy. The two never speak and neither the reader nor the viewer get an insight into the youth's mind.

"The story has always fascinated me," says Christopher. "It's embarrassing to admit it, but like Tadzio I was a golden youth, very much aware of the men and women who were watching me, who wanted me. So when this part came up, I jumped at the chance to play it, although it is perhaps the most difficult thing I have done in my acting career."

In Tadzio Speaks . . . the once beautiful youth finds himself years later reliving that fateful summer and the day he first noticed an old man watching him on the beach. It is written and directed by award-winning writer Martin Foreman, whose Californian Lives has just ended a successful run at the King's Head in Islington.

Tadzio Speaks . . . forms part of the annual Solo Festival at the Lord Stanley Theatre, which brings together solo acts of every format from drama to comedy to music.

Tadzio Speaks . . . runs at the Lord Stanley Theatre, 51 Camden Park Road, London NW1 9BH, 6 / 7 / 13 / 14 / 20 / 21 July (times vary). Tickets (£8) from: www.tadziospeaks.co.uk/tickets.htm / 0798 965 5482.