Former Blue Peter star Peter Duncan relives one of the greatest days in rock'n'roll history in Million Dollar Quartet

The show Million Dollar Quartet is inspired by that one-off recording seesion between Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

With a score including such classics as Blue Suede Shoes, Fever, That’s All Right, Great Balls of Fire, Walk the Line, Who Do You Love?, Folsom Prison Blues, Hound Dog and many more, it captures what has come to be considered a seminal moment in rock’n’roll history.

And the UK tour kicks off in Southampton with former Blue Peter presenter, ex-Chief Scout and Olivier-nominated stage star Peter Duncan reprising the role of Sam Phillips, who he played on the 2017 tour.

We grabbed a quick chat with Peter moments before a run-through for the show’s producers.

‘I was born a bit late for rock’n’roll-proper,’ says Peter, ‘I was born in ’54, so I was a child when this was all kicking off.

‘When I started listening to stuff when I was six or seven, it was when things like The Beatles were kicking in.

‘But if it hadn’t been for Carl Perkins, who is probably the least known of the quartet, then there wouldn’t have been any Beatles – they were infatuated by him.’

Peter made his West End debut at the end of his first Blue Peter stint in 1984 in Pump Boys and Dinettes alongside Joe Brown and Lynsey de Paul.

‘I suppose it was in my background – my parents were variety artists, so I grew up in a singing family.

‘The first one I did was Pump Boys and Dinettes, where I played the bass and even sang to George Harrison – well, I saw him in the audience,’ he chuckles.

‘And then I got a musical about Charlie Chaplin (The Little Tramp), which was like a sung-through musical, and I suppose that’s where my musical chops began really.’

He went on to star in The Card – which earned him the Olivier Awards Best Actor nomination – Barnum and Me & My Girl.

‘When you take on these big musical theatre roles where you're playing the lead, it’s a different kind of energy.

‘I've really enjoyed all that stuff – I still enjoy it, you know. The play I’m in at the moment which I did last night in Bury, that’s a one-man show about a pantomime dame (The Dame) and there’s a lot of singing and that so I'm not thwarted, if you know what I mean!’ he laughs again.

For his quartet, Peter is joined by Ross William Wild as Elvis, Martin Kaye as Jerry Lee Lewis, Robbie Durham as Johnny and Ashley Carruthers as Jerry Lee.

‘They’re brilliant,’ he enthuses. ‘The guy who plays Elvis is fantastic. He looks like Elvis, sounds like Elvis, moves like Elvis.

‘They are at the top of the game as far as actor-musos go, because they're all good actors as well as musicians.

‘And they've done it before so each time you come back, it kind of gets better. You change things a bit and shows often get better when you do them again, you know?’

While Peter seems happiest on stage these days, at the start of his career he was in several feature films, and one of those celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

The performer had a brief, but memorable appearance, in the camp sci-fi classic, Flash Gordon.

‘It’s funny, you do some work where you’re only there for a week and it stays with you for 40 years, but it’s great stuff.

‘I’ve been told I was in it for one minute, 28 seconds,’ he laughs.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET

Mayflower Theatre, Southampton

March 10-14

mayflower.org.uk