Peter Sellers, Tony Hancock and Peter Cook are just a few of the comedy legends who shared more than just an ability for crafting magnificent jokes and performances. These were all geniuses whose lives away form the screen and the stage were riddled with depression, addiction and pain.

Yet the idea that comedy genius must derive from a dark place isn’t necessarily a truism as playwright Tim Whitnall, 49, discovered when researching and writing Morecambe, a one-man show about the life of Eric Morecambe which arrives at Richmond Theatre next week.

Whitnall says: “As his wife Joan said there aren’t any skeletons in Eric’s closet, what you see is what you get. He was cursed with ill health but I just couldn’t find a dark side to him.

“Everywhere I went everyone had the same story which I call the elbow jerk reaction. People put their hand on their heart and say they really miss him and love him.”

Morecambe, which stars Bob Golding, proved a big hit at last year’s Edinburgh Festival and in the West End and a relieved Whitnall says there was plenty of pressure on him to serve Eric’s memory well, not in the least because the comedian’s children, grandchildren and widow would all be coming to watch the production.

He adds: “When we told Bob that on the very last Sunday in the West End Joan Morecambe was in the audience, let’s just say that the heat was on but she was lovely. I must admit I did look through the porthole in the door to see how she was reacting.”

Whitnall, who has lived in Richmond since 1979, based his version of Eric Morecambe, in part, on some of his own personal memories of the man.

“I had the luck to meet Eric when I was a young actor doing a series for Thames Television at Teddington,” says Whitnall.

“Morecambe and Wise were also working at the studio and I can really remember Eric’s energy and the way he lit up a room when he walked into it, so I had this star in my mind when writing the play. Eric was a big star but I remember him always having time to talk to people and have a joke and a laugh.”

The play follows Morecambe from his boyhood years in Lancashire, via the Royal Variety, and all of his greatest hits on television until the end of his life. Using one actor to tell the story of a famous double act certainly sounds like a difficult prospect but Whitnall says that the skill of Golding’s performance has ensured the production’s success.

“Working with Bob and knowing what he could with his extraordinary talent was a real privelige,” he adds.

“He can switch voices and characters, he can pick up and play any instrument you put in front of him, he can tell a joke and do a tap dance - he is my secret weapon.”

Morecambe, Richmond Theatre, September 14-18, for more information and to book tickets, visit ambassadortickets.com/richmond