No wonder he needed some persuasion to assume the title role in a revival of the musical based on Hugh Lofting's popular children's book about a vet who can talk to animals.

What it took was for the character of Dr Dolittle to be tailored more to the chirpy musical entertainer who described how he came to breathe new life into a musical which has had something of a chequered history.

"I was doing Scrooge at the London Palladium and I had a meeting with Leslie Bricusse," he recalled. "I have always been looking for a show like I had before with Hans Christian Andersen and he mentioned Dr Dolittle.

"I said if it's anything like the film I don't want to know. And I had seen it on stage and didn't like that either, it was too long and dreary.

"But being a professional, I said if you are thinking of doing it, let me know."

When eventually Bricusse came back he had made changes which Steele approved of, particularly in relation to the main character.

"He had brightened up the doctor and turned him into a crackpot song and dance man. That's what it needed, kids love a madman."

They also changed the score with some new songs. "Obviously the big numbers are still there - Talk to the Animals and I've Never Seen Anything Like It - you don't chuck away the gold."

The previous West End production with Phillip Schofield and a cast of animatronic creatures, including a parrot with a recorded voice of Julie Andrews.

"That way you become prisoners of electronics. Her voice was on tape and every scene with the parrot took forever," he said More traditional stagecraft techniques of live performers and puppetry have done the trick.

Tommy Steele is arguably Britain's most enduring musical star, making the lead role in Half a Sixpence his own in the West End, on Broadway and on screen. Singin' in the Rain, Hans Christian Andersen and Scrooge were other big shows and he has also been seen in Hollywood movies The Happiest Millionaire and Finian's Rainbow, in which he appeared alongside Fred Astaire.

But of course he first made his name as Britain's original rock 'n' roll star in 1957. "They are always referring to me as the first one and it's nice to go back to those days and answer questions and talk about it, but to me the big moment was when I fell in love with song and dance," he said.

What are his real musical tastes now, what does he play on his iPod? "iPod," he exclaimed, "I'm still trying to work my video machine. No, I'm OK with CDs but I can't be doing with all this downloading on to your laptop. But I've got a pretty broad taste from Mozart to Sedaka, from Diamond to Sibelius."

After more than a year, the two-week run at the Lyceum marks the end of the road for Steele in Dr Dolittle.

What next for the energetic septuagenarian? "After the end of a long run like this I want to have a rest, sit on a beach somewhere, but someone always comes along and presses a script into your hand and says, 'Would you like to do this?' I'll be looking for something that really interests me."

Dr Dolittle opens at the Lyceum on Tuesday and runs until July 26.