AYUB Khan-Din is probably best known for the surprise hit comedy East Is East, in which a strict Pakistani father’s life is thrown into chaos as his British-born children start to fight against the rules he has imposed on them.

But the Salford-born playwright, who now lives in Spain, has spent most of his time writing for the theatre, and the best-loved of his plays is a twist on Bill Naughton’s classic All In Good Time.

Retitled Rafta Rafta, it tells the story of a young, newly married Asian couple whose wedding night does not exactly live up to expectations as the virginal bride remains just that the whole family start meddling.

Ayub says his love of Bill Naughton’s work stretches back to his childhood, growing up on a very typical working-class street in Salford.

“Ever since I was a kid it was always on the TV — either All In Good Time or Spring And Port Wine,” he says.

“The fathers in both were just like mine — anyone who has lived in a patriarchal family will recognise them.

“There’s a warmth in Bill’s writing, but there’s also a darkness. It’s still very relevant to people today.”

Indeed, he says the current economic lows make the play all the more timely.

“After the financial crisis, there were lots of articles about how young people now are staying at home for longer because they can’t afford to move out,” he says. “So they’re stuck in that situation where they’re a young couple and they can’t get any privacy — just like when Naughton wrote All In Good Time.”

And although its characters are strongly rooted in the Bolton community, the story has translated across the world and had success in some unexpected places.

“Rafta Rafta was a big hit in New York, believe it or not,” Ayub says. “A Bolton family became the talk of off-Broadway.

“It was going to Broadway, but then the financial crisis hit, which stopped a lot of people’s plans in their tracks.”

Although he is now based in Spain, Ayub says it is not so different from the street where he grew up, or the Bolton streets where Rafta Rafta is set.

“It’s a lot like Salford in the Sixties,” he says. “In the morning the women go out and clean their steps — if you don’t do yours it’s noticed. It’s just like the street I grew up in, except everyone speaks Spanish.”

He has just finished the screenplay for West Is West, a follow-up to East Is East, although he is keen to point out that it is not a sequel.

“From day one I said I wasn’t going to write East Is East 2 because I’ve seen a lot of sequels and they’ve always been very disappointing,” he says.

“This is a stand-alone film, which is something I’m really proud of.

“Again it’s dealing with the father’s relationship with his youngest boy. He thinks that to sort it out a trip back to Pakistan would be the thing, but he hasn’t been back for 30 years — and he has to deal with the consequences of his actions while he was there.

“It’s a coming-of-age story for both a 13-year-old boy and a 57-year-old man.”

Now he has switched back to theatre, and is working on a reworking of the well-known tale of Faust.

“I like writing for theatre. They’re two completely different beasts,” he says.

“Film is great financially, but once you’ve delivered your first draft everyone turns into Shakespeare and you’re fighting with other people’s voices, but with theatre it is your voice.

“You do work with the actors — you’d be stupid not to — but it’s very much more immediate, it changes every night.”

He adds: “Faust is a great story. At the moment everyone is following all these different religions — this is about a man who is looking for a conversation with God and not getting it, so he turns to the one area he thinks he will get answers from, which is the devil.”

* Rafta Rafta is at the Octagon, Bolton from Thursday, May 13 to Saturday, June 5. Tickets: £9 - £18.50.