Adrian Edmondson ('Teenage Kicks')

Adrian Edmondson made his name as an alternative comedian, playing a lunatic punk in The Young Ones. Now he is a 51-year-old father appearing intermittently in Holby City. It's not hard to see the inspiration for Teenage Kicks, in which his middle-aged, ex-punk character moves in with his children and makes desperate attempts to relive his hipper days. The comic legend tells Digital Spy that, like Vernon, he really is still young - at least in spirit.

The new series started a few weeks ago. What sort of reception has it had?
"Judging from people who approach you - what they say, how they say it and whether they are being fake or not - it seems to be going down very well. Though I don't know any performer who isn't a little paranoid."

Are you pleased with the finished product?
"We did it on the radio first so by the time we brought it to television they just let us do what we wanted. It really is the show I wanted to make - so if it fails it is completely my fault!"

How would you describe your character, Vernon?
"He is someone my age with my hair loss problems. He gets divorced and moves into a flat with his kids. He wants to be as young as they are - and spiritually he is. And mentally he's very young. It's only his hips and teeth that are holding him back from being a proper teenager. The kids completely hate it."

You have highlighted the parallels with your life. Was that the inspiration?
"It is kind of based on when I did Comic Relief Does Fame Academy. I thought I was really in with the young kids, people like Reggie Yates and Edith Bowman, who are definitely in their early 20s and things. I thought, 'Here I am, approaching 50, but I'm still down with the kids.' Then I realised they were just humouring me and calling me uncle. I just could not be one of them and that was the inspiration for it - I thought, 'I can be'. It is only a few years ago that I kind of relinquished the idea that I was 19. I now think of myself as 23 or 24. The fact that I've got kids about the same age makes no difference. I feel I am younger than them."

What do your children and wife (Jennifer Saunders) think of it?
"I'll come down in some new clothes and they will say 'you look great' in a patronising way. They appreciate the fact that who I've been has meant I managed to get them in to see the Spice Girls and things when they were young. But they still think I'm an old b***ard. (My wife) finds it a very funny show but she must worry slightly, I imagine, about how much of it is real."

How have you been rediscovering your youth?
"Once you start having kids you stop going out, but now they're looking after themselves I've started to go out and see bands again. I like going to the Dublin Castle (Camden pub/venue) and see bands that are desperately trying to be great. I like going to the nights when there is no-one famous on."

Do you also still perform with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band?
"The Bonzos are still going along. They are a weird collection of art students from the 60s. They are a lot older than me and were instrumental in a lot of my peer group's comedy development. When they had their reunion party a couple of years ago I turned up, Phill Jupitus turned up, and Bill Bailey, Stephen Fry, Paul Merton - all these people love the Bonzos. The main guy is dead so there's a roving group of comics my age who fill in. It's as if your favourite band let you in."

What do you think of today's generations of comics?
"I think there are some good ones. I like Noel Fielding and mister skinny hips, hairy chest.. Russell Grant. Not Grant, Brand. Russell Grant is the astrologer."

Teenage Kicks airs Fridays at 9.30pm on ITV1.