CATCH him while you can -- Paul Nicholas as you have never seen him before.

The actor, most famous for being the charming ladies' man, has grown whiskers and happily turned into a middle aged family man for his latest role.

He is appearing in the lead role in Fiddler on the Roof, as Tevye, the traditional Jewish milkman struggling to survive at the turn of the century in a small Russian town with his wife and daughters.

The part was made world famous by Topol in the hit film, but Nicholas is undaunted at the task of having to follow in his footsteps. And he turned down the chance to do Gilbert and Sullivan in favour of finding "something different".

He said: "The producer initially came to me with the idea of doing Her Majesty's Pinafore. But I looked at the production and thought it was not for me. So I thought what else could I do?

"And then I came up with the idea of Fiddler on the Roof because it is a musical which does not tour extensively around England. It is hard to find a quality show that has comedy, heart, nice tunes and gives the audience something to think about."

Nicholas comes to the Palace Theatre in Manchester with the show from April 7 to 12. And he is set to return at the end of the year in a completely different role . . . as Captain Hook in the pantomime Peter Pan at The Lowry, .

Tickets to see Fiddler on the Roof are from 0161 242 2524.