THE slight inconvenience of having died in 1983 doesn’t prevent beloved actor John Le Mesurier from playing to packed houses.

Fortunately he has the assistance of writer, impressionist and performer Julian Dutton, whose long comedy CV includes co-creating and appearing in The Big Impression.

That show, and the indirect help of Ian Lavender - Private Pike in Dad’s Army - were the foundation for Do You Think That’s Wise? - the Life & Times of John Le Mesurier.

We meet John in a theatre dressing room in 1972 as he prepares to be interviewed by a journalist.

“We did a series of sketches in which I played Ian Lavender, who was in EastEnders for a while,” said Julian.

The sketches saw Ian, played by Alistair McGowan, try to morph EastEnders into Dad’s Army, and Julian’s take on John Le Mesurier as Wilson was so popular that he kept it as part of his act.

By the time Dad’s Army began in 1968, John Le Mesurier was in his mid-fifties, but had already appeared in many films and TV shows in supporting roles as well as being in demand for the stage. He famously described himself as a mere jobbing actor.

This, Julian believes, accounts for much of his enduring appeal.

“He made between 120 and 200 films. He knew that he was never going to be Alec Guinness or Sean Connery or David Niven - a leading man on screen.

“I think when we were all growing up - people of a certain age and even young people! - the old films would be on TV and he would be in them. All of those actors have entered our minds.

“People say we do not watch Fifties films much, but we do without knowing it because they’re on all the time.”

Julian chose the format of Do You Think That’s Wise? carefully.

“I could have chosen to do a sort of light entertainment show - An Evening With or An Audience With - but the other route was a play about him.

“I’ve chosen the second because he was not a stand-up comedian. Although he was a good story teller he wasn’t Kenneth Williams.”

When we meet him in his dressing room in 1972, Dad’s Army has made the actor more famous than at any time during his career. He is also winning acclaim for other leading roles, such as that of a British Soviet spy in Dennis Potter television play Traitor.

The actor talks us through much of his complicated private life as well as his career.

His marriage to Hattie Jacques, a star in her own right best known for the Carry On series and a long-running sitcom with Eric Sykes, ended after she moved a lover in to the marital home. John Le Mesurier, anxious to protect her reputation, deflected blame on to himself during court proceedings.

A later marriage suffered when his wife and his good friend, Tony Hancock, became lovers, but the actor remained on good terms with both.