AS Templeman ‘Faceman’ Peck, Dirk Benedict was one of the stars of The A-Team back in the eighties, after starring as Starbuck in the original (and better) version of Battlestar Galactica.

As the movie of The A-Team is due to open soon, he revealed that he has a small part in what is sure to be the Summer block-buster.

Dirk, who will will miss the premiere of the movie because he has a prior engagement, is touring the UK as Lieutenant Columbo in Prescription Murder.

The character of Columbo has become synonymous with the actor Peter Falk who played him from 1968’s feature film of Prescription Murder to 2000 when he donned the raincoat for the last time in Columbo Likes The Nightlife, but seven years before the feature, he appeared on stage in America.

Prescription Murder starred Thomas Mitchell as Columbo.

The play was written by Richard Levinson and William Link and was adapted from their television play called Enough Rope.

Realising they had a winning format with Columbo — the switch being that the audience already know ‘whodunnit’ and the enjoyment comes from seeing how he works it out — and eventually sold the concept to TV.

Falk wasn’t the first choice to play the cop, originally it was meant to be Bing Crosby, but the crooner turned the role down as the TV schedule would have interfered with his golf.

Falk’s portrayal of the New York cop in Los Angeles became an instant hit and the show garnered six Emmy Awards before it was axed in 1977.

The show was revived in the 1980s with Falk again taking on the role.

The Middle Ground Theatre Company have decided to stage a tour of the original stage play and invited Dirk Benedict to play the lead role.

“I didn’t realise how big a deal it was,” Dirk said about the role.

“I never saw the series — in fact I didn’t even own a TV until 1984 because I was generally a theatre actor and I still don’t watch much TV.”

Audiences have said though, that Dirk’s portrayal is very much like the bumbling, untidy characterisation that Peter Falk was famous for.

“I’ve done my own take on the character, as I hadn’t seen Peter’s version,” he said.

“But people keep telling me that I’ve stolen everything from Peter.”

Dirk then explained how he formed his character.

“I worked out the character from the script I was given, which is what Peter did with the same script back in 1968.

“Actually, this part is a lot closer to my own character that anything else I’ve done because to be honest, I’m a bit of a slob. I also smoke cigars and always have ash on me.”

The play is almost identical to the original play, apart from the end, as Dirk confided.

“The very end of the play is from the television version,” he said.

“The rest is from the original play, but they liked the TV ending better and they didn’t want to disappoint the Columbo fans.”

So far the fans haven’t been disappointed.

“The reaction has been very positive,” the 65 year-old Montana-born actor told me.

“And I’ve got good reviews for the character, but…” he laughed, “They never show me the bad ones.”

The play ends its UK tour in July and Dirk is planning to have a break.

“I’ve no real plans at the moment, but I’m gonna go home and write my third book.” (he has already written two volumes of his autobiography, the first Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy detailed his fight against Prostate Cancer).

• Prescription Murder starring Dirk Benedict as Lt Columbo, directed by Michael Lunney, is on at The Lowry Theatre in Salford from Monday, June 7 until Saturday, June 12.