While films and TV work guarantee fame and recognition, it’s the stage that’s always been actor Hugh Sachs’ first love.

And that’s really saying something coming from a man who’s appeared alongside Johnny Depp in The Libertine and Jude Law and Ray Winstone in Love, Honour and Obey, as well as being one of TV comedy’s most popular characters; Benidorm’s Gavin Ramsbottom.

Anything Goes tells of Billy Crocker who discovers that the object of his affection, heiress Hope Harcourt, is engaged to an English aristocrat. He stows away aboard the SS American to win her back. Cole Porter’s uplifting musical features the songs I Get A Kick Out of You, You’re the Top, It’s De-Lovely and Anything Goes.

But even distinguished stage actor Hugh, 50, hadn’t counted on starring in an all-singing, all-dancing big American musical, which would call on him to tap dance and carry a number himself.

Yet here he is playing comedic gangster Moonface Martin in the tour of Anything Goes, at Bromley this week and visiting Dartford in April, and Hugh says it’s the most joyous experience he’s ever had.

“I keep saying to myself, ‘Remember this, because you’ll never hear a sound like it again’. I’ve never done a big musical before but it’s always good to do something that really frightens you. The most frightening thing was the choreography.

"I’ve got a duet, Friendship, and a song called Bluebird but they are not huge belters – I won’t be releasing an album – they are very much character songs.” Hugh’s no stranger to trying something new.

“It was written by Cole Porter in the height of the depression to give people a fantastic night and it really does. People have been telling us that they’re going home on the train afterwards and they just can’t stop smiling,” says Hugh, who has been loving the rapturous applause at the end of each night’s performance.

He was an original cast member of the ITV show Benidorm when it started in 2007 and remained until series five. “Benidorm was a unique experience, and the writing was so brilliant that you thought ‘I don’t see how this can’t work’. I thought it was hilarious.

"I’ve not been in it for several years and so it’s incredibly flattering that people remember the character of Gavin so fondly,” says Hugh.

Of the A-list co-stars in his film work, Hugh has only good words for all of them. “Johnny Depp was lovely, I had a day with him on The Libertine as his tailor. The word had reached me that he was really charming and he was.”

Of the Brit gangster film Love, Honour and Obey, Hugh says: “It was entirely improvised, there was no script and I kind of liked that. They were all calling themselves by their real names and Jude Law said, ‘Do you want to be called Hugh?’ And I said, ‘No! Call me...’ I think I said Charlie or something. The whole thing was in a kind of blur.

"In those [improvised] situations the biggest problem is trying not to get the giggles when someone says something funny.”

Anything Goes is at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley until Saturday, February 28. Tickets cost from £15.90 plus £2.85 booking fee. Visit www.atgtickets.com.

Later in the year the show is at Dartford’s Orchard Theatre from Monday, April 27 until Saturday, May 7. Tickets cost from £26. Visit www.orchardtheatre.co.uk or call 01322 220000.