TV star Karl Howman plays cat and mouse with KATHERINE MACALISTER

It’s half an hour to curtain call and Karl Howman is as cool as a cucumber, chatting away about his grandchildren as if he hadn’t a care in the world. You’d never know that in a few minutes he needs to transform into Mr Paravicini, a murder suspect in Agatha Christie’s most famous play The Mousetrap.

“Don’t worry I’ve got my timings down to a fine art,” he assures me, “although I’m always watching things on my iPad, and I do worry I might miss my cue.

“I’m into House Of Cards at the moment and it’s so good....”

You would presume then that Karl is appearing at the Oxford Playhouse, in the latest of a long run of Agatha Christie plays, but you’d be wrong because The Mousetrap is coming to Oxford’s New Theatre instead, the first play I can remember there in 15 years. “No pressure then,” he laughs.

If the name Karl Howman doesn’t ring a bell, the face will. Our favourite painter and decorator from Brush Strokes, this 60-year-old has been on and off our screens for the past 45 years.

As prolific on stage as he is on screen, Karl has already done a 10-month stint on The Mousetrap tour and after a summer break is back for more. “I spent six weeks in Portugal. We’ve got a place over there and the grandkids come over and it’s fantastic,” he says happily. “And then we finish again in December so it’s short and sweet. “It’s not like going back to school because there’s a new buzz in each different town and city we visit,” he says. So has he enjoyed the whole run? “I’m getting on a bit but I haven’t been in it for 50 years,” he laughs, with that cheeky chappy charm that always upped the female viewing figures.

Is the boy-next-door thing something he’s embellished then over the years? “What people take away from your performance is up to them. “You have no real control over that and when you have to buy your daughter’s school uniform you can’t be too choosy either. Acting is a job,” he shrugs.

Perhaps Karl’s referring to the adverts he did for Flash? “Like everything in life there are people who like you and people who don’t and people who think they know you. Every generation is different and remember you from different things. Some people follow your theatre career, others your TV career. It’s life. So I don’t do many interviews. I’m quite private really and keep myself to myself.”

A rare privilege then to talk to him and yet what you see is what you get with Karl, he has no airs and graces, hailing as he does from East London. “I joined the National Youth Theatre, that was my way in and it snowballed from there. In fact when I was younger I wanted to be a journalist like you. “But I’ll let you into a little secret, it’s not hard work acting, apart from days like today when you have a matinee.”

Karl is a pro though, through and through, and he’s always worked. So what is he most proud of? “Playing a lead in a West End musical with no dance or musical background,” he says immediately. “And then The Mousetrap people called and asked If I’d consider doing this, and it’s worked out really well.

“I didn’t realise there were so many theatres I hadn’t seen, I thought I’d done the lot after 45 years in the business,” he says.

Ah yes back to Agatha Christie, so is it a good one? “Mousetrap is the only play she wrote of any consequence. It’s a whodunnit set in 1952, so as long as you go with the era, sit back and let it wash over you, you’ll enjoy it, but it’s not full of blood and guts if that’s what you’re expecting,” he says as the tannoy announces the last curtain call and on cue he gets up to face the music once more.

SEE IT The Mousetrap runs at Oxford’s New Theatre from Tue–Sat October 8-12. Call the box office on 0844 8713020.