IT’S been centuries since the streets of Poole were last terrorised by pirates, but all that changed this week. Actor Christopher Ellison was in full pirate costume as Captain Hook to promote his starring role in Peter Pan at the Lighthouse theatre this Christmas.

Having recently been recently released from Channel Five’s Celebrity Big Brother, the star was joined by the rest of the cast in costume ahead of the show’s opening on December 4.

Having played the unscrupulous DCI Burnside in ITV's The Bill for five years, Chris can't wait to play one of theatre's classic bad guys.

“Hook is a great part to play, a really good baddie,” he says.

“People always say it because it's true, but baddies really are the best roles. I've always played villains ever since I began in The Sweeney in the 1970s - even Burnside, he was a bad cop really. He just made people feel safer because he could make everything better. He's about as far from me as it's possible to be.”

Chris, who will be up against Bluestone 42 actor Jamie Quinn in the title role, has a passion for Peter Pan and is particularly excited by this original yet faithful take on JM Barrie's much-loved story about the boy who wouldn't grow up.

“Peter Pan is a proper children's drama with a fully formed narrative and character development so even when it's translated to the stage at Christmas it retains those elements. This is actually my fifth year in a row playing Hook, so I know him quite well. You have to strike a balance and make him scary, but not terrifying.

“He has to be slightly ridiculous as well. That way it makes sense when everyone takes the mickey out of him. But then it's different every time so I'm really looking forward to seeing the script and finding how they work all these elements in.”

With several performances already sold out, Peter Pan opens at Lighthouse on Friday, December 4 and runs until January 3. Starring Christopher Ellison as Hook, Jamie Quinn as Pan and Lighthouse favourite Neil Smye as Smee. Ally Cox, artistic director of Stagewise School for the Performing Arts, which is based at Lighthouse, will play Mrs Darling.

Tiger-Lily will be played by Poole actress - and Lighthouse stage doo supervisor - Lora Townsend who played one of Anne Boleyn's ladies in waiting in the recent BBC drama Wolf Hall. Lora has also appeared in feature films including Kingsman, Suffragette and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and was body double for Keira Knightley in Never Let Me Go.

: For tickets and information, call 0844 406 8666, or visit www.lighthousepoole.co.uk