LONG before anyone had even heard of dysfunctional families, Viv Nicholson's warring tribe was a classic example.

The Castleford pools winner, whose turbulent life story is currently entertaining audiences at The Mayflower, had a far from harmonious relationship with her father George. Violent and domineering, he regularly resorted to using his fists in an attempt to quell his strong-willed daughter's behaviour.

Nigel Williams, who plays George in Spend Spend Spend, believes Viv's father was probably a more influential figure in her life than anyone else.

"Basically, he's a bit of a drunken bully. He's very violent, but for some reason unknown to herself, Viv thought the world of him.

"She first got married when she was 16, because she was pregnant, and her father wasn't very happy about that. The first husband was a really nice guy, but Viv thought he was boring, so she went off with Keith, who became her second husband.

"But getting married enabled Viv to get away from home, and George seemed quite happy with Keith.

"There are a couple of bits of beating up in the show, but it's not huge 'shock the family' stuff. He had a habit of giving Viv little thumps in the kidneys to keep her in line."

Viv's relationship with her father was reflected in her intense, passionate and often violent relationships with her husbands - of which there were several.

"I think she once said that she respected men who were strong with her, which is a bit of a weird way of seeing it," says Williams, who has joined Barbara Dickson and Rachel Leskovac - the present-day and younger versions of Viv in the play - for the UK tour of the award-winning West End production.

Viv's win may have gone some way to George - effectively now a kept man - moderating his behaviour towards her.

"He thought he was going to be in clover. Unfortunately for him, his daughter thought differently.

"She only gave him small bits of money, because she knew he'd only have spent it on booze and killed himself. But he seemed to accept that quite happily, though."

Unusually for a popular family show, Spend Spend Spend pulls few punches in portraying Nicholson's tempestuous background and home life.

"It's not full of people singing about the sunset, it's actually quite gritty."

* For tickets and information, call the Mayflower box office on 023 8071 1811.