THE rag and bone men are calling for any old iron at the Lighthouse in Poole next week.

A production of Steptoe and Son, based on the classic BBC sitcom, runs from March 5-9.

Company founder Mike Shepherd, playing “dirty old man” Albert – with Dean Nolan, playing his son – said: “I think we have made a poignant piece of theatre which is also very entertaining.”

It has been produced by the Kneehigh theatre company, adapted and directed by Emma Rice.

She said: “The words, situations and basic genius of this script are all the work and imagination of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

“I laughed and wept in equal measure as I made my way through the scripts that make up the Steptoe and Son cannon.

“The work is deeper, darker and more intricate than I’d ever realised, watching as a child.”

She went on to say: “I’ve tried to enable and reveal the heart-breaking and perfectly observed characters that had generations glued to their TV’s for over a decade. It has been the chance of a lifetime to dive into such an iconic and important body of work.”