AS far as theatre debuts go, Essex actor Danny Young’s is going to be a baptism of fire. Aside from a couple of appearances in panto, this will be the first time the Brentwood-based former Coronation Street star will have trodden the boards – and it’s going to involve taking off his clothes.

Despite walking into it with his eyes open, Danny, 26, says he wanted to make sure from the outset that Wildboyz had a good script and was about good characters and comedy, as well as stripping.

“When they approached me to audition I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a case of me turning up and taking my shirt off,” says Danny.

“But it is a very good script and it was a chance to do a comedic character, which I really wanted to do. I have only really done quite serious stuff up to now.”

The tour, which rolls into Colchester’s Charter Hall on May 1, will see Danny appear alongside former cage fighter Alex Reid, Marcus Patrick of teen soap Hollyoaks, and Big Brother contestant Dale Howard.

They have all been in the gym getting match fit for the story, which sees them as fictionalised versions of themselves going on a stag do to Bali, but finding themselves redirected to a cheap Spanish resort where they are forced to fill in for international strippers, the Wildboyz, at a hen night.

“I am under no illusions that we are probably going to be playing to a mainly female and gay audience, but I am looking forward to it.

“I have met the other guys a few times and we all get on well,” says Danny who was Prince Charming alongside Colchester’s own Millie Binks in panto in Kettering, Northamptonshire, last Christmas.

Danny, who recently bought a 16th century cottage in Warley, near Brentwood, started out as a professional footballer after going to St Martin’s School in Brentwood.

He was signed by Leyton Orient before acting took over when he was 14 and appeared alongside Tamsin Outhwaite in acclaimed drama Out of Control, then he went on to play Warren Baldwin in Corrie.

In 2010 he made it to the final five on Dancing on Ice, but admits he still finds it hard to talk about bowing out of the competition due to dropping the hat he was using in his routine during props week.

He recalls: “I can’t really talk about it even now, it makes me feel sick.

“Even if I was in Hollywood in a few years time picking up an Oscar, I would still look back at that and feel sick about it.

“I had been doing so well and I really thought once I was down to the last five, I could do it as I had the highest score that year among the boys up to that point.” That aside Danny, still walked away from the show having met girlfriend Brianne Delcourt, who partnered last year’s winner Sam Attwater.

They have been together for almost two years, and he says she and the rest of his family are understanding of the demands of the new role in Wildboyz.

“Because of what my girlfriend does, she understands about performing for your job,” he explains l Wildboyz, which is strictly for adults only, is at Charter Hall, Colchester, on Tuesday. Tickets, costing £19.50 and £21.50, are available from the box office, on 01206 282020.