In 2007 the BBC talent show Any Dream Will Do gave the winner Lee Mead the chance to don Joseph’s technicolour dreamcoat for a West End production of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical. However, another of the show’s contestants, Craig Chalmers was also given the chance to star as Joseph in producer Bill Kenwright’s rival touring version.

Chalmers has now performed the role more than 1000 times and will add a few more to that number when the show calls in at Richmond Theatre from July 28 - August 2.

The Scot says that he is still grateful that his run on Any Dream Do, in which he made it through to the seventh week of the show, brought him to Kenwright’s attention.

“It was a fantastic experience and one that I still look back fondly on,” he says. “It was my big break but I would never do it again now that I’ve got my career up and going. It was so nervewracking and it seems like an age ago.”

Chalmers has signed up to star as Joseph until January 2010 and is still loving belting out songs such as Any Dream Will Do and Close Every Door. He says he has learnt to live with comparisons that are drawn between himself and other performers who have worn the colourful coat.

“I was a bit of fan of Jason Donovan and he is the one I get compared to quite a lot. At first there was pressure as you are aware of the people who played the part but now I just enjoy it. I wouldn’t say I get overconfident but I’m definitely comfortable now having played it for so long.”

Lloyd Webber wrote the musical in 1968 for Colet Court in Barnes in 1968 and it has become a staple of school performances ever since. Did Chalmers get some early practice in as a youngster?

“We did it at school but I wasn’t in it as I was more interested in football and didn’t want to let the side down by going over to drama,” he says. “As I got older I wasn’t so worried about that.”

Any Dream Will Do was not Chalmers’ first stab at television - before appearing on the show he also appeared in Pop Idol in 2003. He says the influence of pop music is evident in his performance as Joseph and as he begins to develop a career as a recording artist.

“I still have pop elements to my performance in the show and my voice is naturally ‘poppy’,” he says. “I’ve also just finished an album that I heard for the time the other day in Bill Kenwright’s office. It is my second album with Anthony Hansen and is a mix of pop songs and songs from musicals.”

Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Richmond Theatre, July 28 - August 2, ambassadortickets.com