AN amateur Stourbridge actor, best known for bringing to life the madcap stage and film detective Inspector Drake, has turned professional and is getting set to perform in front of a home crowd.

Alan Birch’s sparkling performances as the comedy cop in David Tristram’s Inspector Drake plays and films not only wowed audiences across the Black Country and beyond, but also caught the eye of professional actor and theatre company boss Gerry Hinks, who has cast the Wollaston-based thespian in his latest show.

Gerry, who has appeared in Coronation Street and Emmerdale, and alongside Alan in the Drake indie movies, asked his capable co-star to join his Opus Theatre Company to play the lead in Charles Dyer’s Rattle of a Simple Man in a tour of the Midlands.

A delighted Alan, who has been treading the boards with theatre groups across the borough since he was a teenager, told the News it has been a “dream come true” to be given the chance to turn professional and gain his equity card.

The 54-year-old, who runs a graphic design business from his home in Cobden Street by day, added: “I was extremely honoured to be presented with this opportunity.

“There are three characters in the play but for most of the performance there are only two of us on stage, so it’s a huge role.”

In the play, which is set in the 1960s, Alan plays Percy – a naive football fan whose friends bet him that he won’t spend the night with a prostitute.

Alan added: “It’s a great period piece, written before the start of the sexual revolution and all the more fun for it. The rehearsals have been great fun.”

The play, which also stars Catherine Manford as prostitute Cyrenne and Paolo Allen as Ricard. has already been performed to much acclaim at the Lichfield Garrick and other Midlands venues.

It comes to Stourbridge for one night only on Friday, April 24, at Amblecote’s Ruskin Glass Centre in Wollaston Road.

The performance starts at 7.30pm and tickets, priced £10 (£8 concessions), are available on 01384 399430.