AS the lead singer of iconic punk rock band The Stranglers, Paul Roberts has probably seen his fair share of wild times.

But kids across Lancashire may well give him a run for his money when he stars in a local pantomime this Christmas.

We spoke to the star who has gone from controversial song lyrics to shrieks of “He's behind you”.

IT could be argued that Aladdin is the scariest of all the Christmas pantos, what with all those flying carpet rides, a man in a turban appearing out of a lamp and the evil Abanazer.

But it's hardly punk, is it?

Not until now, anyway.

That may well be set to change when Paul Roberts, former frontman of punk band The Stranglers, takes a lead role in East Lancashire's panto production.

“Why did I decide to do panto? Because they asked me,” said Roberts over the phone from his home in Brighton (which he calls”the Gay Bay”).

“My agent thought it would be educational. It's a lot of fun and apparently panto makes you a better actor. People sometimes look down on panto, but you find that's usually just to make themselves feel better. I'm a working class guy.

“I'm lucky to be alive and working — you can't ask for much more than that, can you?"

Since leaving The Stranglers in 2006, Roberts has set his sights on a variety of projects — all of them a million miles away from his former life — including starring in a stage musical of The Darling Buds of May and singing in swing band Manhattan Swing.

“I don't know what other people were doing when they were 17 but I bet they wouldn't want to be doing exactly the same thing 20 years later.

“It's wonderful to open myself up to new things,” said Roberts.

“Panto is the same. Were going to have some fun with an old tune in this show — nothing is sacred and that's what I love about panto.

“It can be a lot of fun to make fun of something that was very serious in the past.”

Roberts — who plays Emperor Ming in the show, coming to Colne and Oswaldtwistle — fronted The Stranglers for 16 years, from 1990 to 2006, following the departure of founder member Hugh Cornwell. This period saw the iconic band releasing eight albums. His departure in 2006 was not amicable.

“When you go out of something like that you don't look back with fond memories for a while I think,” he said.

“It was an acrimonious departure. Not in the sense that we had one acrimonious day when I left, but where bad feeling built up. All sorts of things were going on. You tend to be happy that you've got out of a bad situation at first and then 18 months later you look back and go through a sort of bereavement.

“But I had amazing times in the band. I was always the ringleader for starting parties and one of the highlights of my career was playing at the Royal Albert Hall. That was one of the last times my dad saw me perform before he died.”

Roberts will turn 50 next month but claims he's not bothered about the ageing process.

“I'm very happy to go through all these stepping stones because life is all about experiences,” he said.

“My ethos is that you go with the flow.

“If my life was a story book it would read: “Twenties: not really sure what life is. Ran away joined the circus, came back in his 40s. Father dies of cancer.' It's all just part of the flow of life.”

l See Paul Roberts starring in the PMA production of Aladdin at Oswaldtwistle Civic Theatre from December 10 to 20 (01254 232172) and at Colne Muni from January 3 to 18 (Call 01282 661234). He also has a new single, Back to Front, available on iTunes or Amazon. Visit www.soulsec.com