WITH his floppy blond hair and boyish charm, it's hard to believe that Paul Nicholas has been in the entertainment industry since the early Sixties.

But given the number of different career tangents that Paul, now 57, has packed into his working life, it's really no wonder that he started early.

Still best known for his role as shaggy-permed, wide-smiled, bad boy love interest Vince in the BBC sitcom, Just Good Friends, Paul has also made a name for himself as a pop star, producer, director, musical star and has even managed to pen an autobiography.

But the role he cherishes most is being a dad, having raised six children, ranging in age from 16 to 37.

"I say I'm a family man but I've spent most of my time on the road," he says.

"I'm quite old now, I'm 24," he jokes, "so most of my children have left home.

"I've got a 16-year-old girl still at home and I do like to see my kids - they come round a lot.

"It seems to me that one of the reasons why I've worked all my life is - well if you're working for something, it might as well be your family."

Paul admits that his own unhappy childhood may have influenced his desire to have a large family.

"I was an only child which I really didn't like at all," he says.

"I think only-children do tend to be a bit lonely. My parents didn't get on terribly well, so there was that kind of thing going on as well.

"I was a bit out of control when I was young. I wasn't very centred, but when I met my second wife I became a little more stable and grew up a bit. I always wanted to have children around me."

There is a 21-year age gap between Paul's youngest and eldest offspring but he has no regrets about continuing to have children after most kids have flown the nest.

"With children, having them later is better really, because when you're young you're trying to get on and make a way for yourself and as a result you probably don't appreciate how lovely children are.

"When you're older you realise how precious children really are and you may have a bit more time to appreciate them.

"Plus you're just more experienced about life and therefore you have a better idea about raising kids, I think."

Born Paul Beuselinck, he certainly has had a lot of life experience.

Before he became a housewives favourite as Vince, he had been in Screaming Lord Sutch's band, the Savages, starred in the first London cast of the legendary musical Hair, as well as several other major stage shows, and had several films under his belt, including Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band alongside the Bee Gees and Steve Martin.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given all the musical influences that surrounded him, Paul had even become a pop star, charting on both sides of the Atlantic in the late Seventies.

That was a career strand that he was happy to leave behind.

"All I did was make a few records and try to have a few hits. I was only interested in that. I didn't really go out as a pop singer ever.

"I don't like singing as me - I find it boring, actually. "I think I sing OK, I sing well enough within the context of musical theatre, but I don't really enjoy singing that much just on its own - I don't find it fulfilling."

Paul has plenty of singing in character to keep him happy in his current role of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, which brings him to The Mayflower on April 15.

Although he has a successful production company, producing such musicals as Singin' in the Rain, Evita and Grease, he is happy just to be starring in this show.

"I'm employed as a performer so I don't have any overheads," he laughs.

"It means I've got no risks, which is an ideal situation to be in really - I haven't had to put up the capital for the show, I'm just gamefully employed as the performer in it.

"I haven't appeared in many things that I've produced myself.

"I think it's probably better if you don't do that really, because you can't stand back and look at it if you're in it.

"I directed The Rocky Horror Show quite some time ago, simply because we were looking for a director and it was something that I felt I could do, but I'm not as interested in that as I am in performing."

But has Paul's experience of directing made him more critical of directors?

"I think a performer has to come to trust a director, but what's important is that you're not destructive, and that if you think that something isn't quite right or could be improved you have a relationship where you can work with someone.

"You can influence a director but you have to make sure that you don't stand there and scream because if a director has any sense they'll listen to their artists.

"I think I'm pretty easy to work with. I don't understand how some performers make it a kind of neurosis experience where everybody gets upset - I just think that's so desperately boring and I can't be doing with that.

"The problem is, when you've got a leading artist who's behaving badly, it tends to run through the company and the younger members will imitate that and before you know where you are, the show begins, not to fall apart, but it's not a nice atmosphere to work in.

"I try to make it as happy as I can because we're all on the road together and it's a much nicer atmosphere to work in when there aren't any divas - I can't bear all that nonsense."

Fiddler on the Roof is on at The Mayflower from April 15 to 19. For tickets and more information, call 023 8071 1811.