For 20 years Geoffrey Hayes was king of children's television as host of the show Rainbow, writes Gareth Foreman. But this Christmas he is King of Wimbledon Theatre in the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk alongside Shane Richie and Sadie Nine.

After the demise of Rainbow many people thought Geoffrey's career was over, and TV adverts showing him in his other role as a taxi driver only fuelled further rumours his acting days were behind him.

Don't believe a word of it. Geoffrey may not be on TV day in day out, but he is getting ready to celebrate 40 years in showbusiness, and is doing very nicely on the student circuit with a little help from some old friends.

Now 59 and married with a 14-year-old son, Geoffrey has no regrets about hosting Rainbow, although he never set out to become a children's TV presenter.

"My career began at Oldham Rep," says Geoffrey. "I was there for one year and then decided to go to drama school but after a while I realised I could learn more at rep."

By the age of 19 he was appearing in West End productions.

"One of the plays I was in was She Stoops To Conquer, and while it was not a big part it was a fantastic experience to be on a west end stage while I was still so young."

He was picking up odd bits of television work. One role he remembers was in the first police drama Dixon of Dock Green as a villain.

It was another police drama that would make Geoffrey a household name.

"I played DC Scatliffe in Z Cars between 1971-73; I was not in every episode but it was steady and I was able to fly off to Dundee rep and other far-flung places while I wasn't filming."

While at Thames Studios Geoffrey heard about a new children's show.

"So I went dashing up the stairs to the director's office and asked if I could have an audition. I had a script and had to read a story from the Rainbow book. I never thought for a moment I would get the job but my agent called and told me I'd got it."

And the rest is history, for the next two decades Geoffrey alongside Zippy, Bungle and George and Rod, Jane and Freddy entertained millions of children.

"There was the Top 100 Children's Programmes on TV recently; Rainbow came seventh, and the only things above us were cartoons, which says something.

"Money-wise it was not bad either; we certainly were not earning as much as Blue Peter presenters but it was regular money. If Blue Peter was premier league then we were division two."

But Geoffrey found that after 20 years on Rainbow, getting acting work proved difficult.

"For some reason people think I come as a package with George and Zippy, and a lot of people who would employ me now were brought up on Rainbow.

"All the directors who know me as an actor have either retired or died. I admit acting work has been hard to come by and I have been unemployed more since the end of Rainbow than any other time. So I drive a cab from time to time, I have a mortgage a place in Spain and a son at a private school to pay for.

"It does wind me up when The Sun does refer to me as Geoffrey Hayes, taxi driver. I have absolutely no regrets and if I had my time over again would do exactly the same. I was lucky enough to have 20 fantastic years on a great show. People still come up to me in the street and want to talk about Rainbow.

"I am now doing student gigs with George, Bungle and Zippy and the response is phenomenal it is like being a rock star.

"Next year is the 30th anniversary and hopefully we will all be getting together for a one-off episode."

With plenty to look forward to including pantomime, there is still a lot of life left in Geoffrey.

p Jack And The Beanstalk opens at Wimbledon Theatre tonight, and for details see the listings.

December 7, 2001 12:01