NIGEL Havers has a wealth of television, theatre and film credits to his name. He toured to the Wycombe Swan with the immensely successful Art in 2002, and now he returns with a new stage adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's classic novel Rebecca.

"How could I turn down the chance to play Maxim de Winter?" he says. "I'd read Daphne du Maurier's book a long time ago and it really is a classic. Even though it was published over 70 years, the power of the novel remains utterly undiminished.

The story is so powerful and complex. Essentially, a murder has been committed and Daphne du Maurier lets the murderer get away with it and makes her readers find it perfectly acceptable.

And then there's Rebecca even though she's long dead, she still has an obsessive hold over everyone at Manderley. Maxim de Winter is such a complex character he's a man with a secret that he doesn't know what to do about.

The whole thing is pure drama as I said, I would have been a fool to turn it down! It's been challenging to get under his skin, but it's also been hugely rewarding."

He says of his co-stars: "I'm working with a fantastic company of actors. Elisabeth Dermot Walsh plays the second Mrs de Winter.

This is her first major role but I really think she's a major talent who we'll be seeing lots of in the future. Maureen Beattie plays Mrs Danvers we've had great fun together but on stage she's truly terrifying."

It was his friendship with producer David Pugh which led to the project. They had worked together previously on Art and The Play What I Wrote, and were on holiday when they decided Rebecca was a work they both wanted to put on stage: "It seemed the perfect project."

This is a new adaptation of a work which has been produced for stage and screen very successfully in the past, but Havers believes this production has something new to offer: "We had a look at the two stage adaptations which had been done before and they were, to be honest, a bit creaky. Daphne du Maurier herself had written the first adaptation but she'd turned it into a sort of drawing room whodunit and it just wouldn't work for audiences today. David's stroke of genius was to ask Frank McGuinness to write a brand new adaptation. Frank, who'd won a Tony Award for his translation of A Doll's House in New York, has written a riveting script. It's full of power and passion".

Havers was born into a high profile family. His father was Lord Havers, former Chancellor and Attorney General.

He has a very recognisable face, but he copes with fame with humility: "It's inevitable that I get recognised quite a bit when I'm out and about but it just goes with the job.

"It would be absolutely churlish to complain about it and anyway, I've always found people to be very pleasant. They just want to say hello, maybe get an autograph. What's wrong with that?"

Nigel Havers appears in Rebecca at the Wycombe Swan from October 3 -8. Tickets: 01494 512000