STEPHEN Tomlin is a well respected figure of stage and screen.

Actor, role player, director and producer, he rose to fame in 1991 as BBC Mastermind champion, founded Demi-paradise Productions in 2000, and has trod the cobbles of Coronation Street on many occasions.

From February 25 until March 19 (7.30pm), Stephen's Demi-paradise put on Shakespeare's Measure for Measure in the Shire Hall at Lancaster Castle. The show will be the 10th Demi-paradise Shakespeare production at the castle and the company's contribution to the scores of nationwide events marking the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death.

However, this will be Stephen's last promenade Shakespeare production under the Demi-paradise banner.

"All good things, as we know, come to an end," explains Stephen. "And a combination of personal and professional reasons has coincided serendipitously to make this decision to stand down and move on a natural and timely one. I’m making as gradual an exit as possible; starting here with the Shakespeare, then Ghostly Tales in October and finally Deck the Hall at Christmas."

Stephen was born in Saltash, Cornwall, but grew up in his mother’s home town of Tavistock in West Devon, on the edge of Dartmoor. He trained as a specialist speech and drama teacher at Central School of Speech and Drama from 1969-72. "I still think of myself as west country man at heart, even though I’ve been in happy exile here in the north since 1976 when I came to work at the Dukes Theatre at Lancaster. The city has been my base ever since, although I’ve travelled and worked all over the UK and beyond."

In the late 1990s he gave up the touring theatre life for a part time tour guide job at Shire Hall, Lancaster Castle: "I could see the dramatic possibilities this amazing building had to offer, and thanks to the help and support of Lancashire County Council’s manager at the time, Christine Goodier, we mounted a small scale rehearsed reading of Shakespeare’s Richard II. It went down so well we moved on to the next stage - a learned production - with a tiny budget and a bunch of actor friends, willing and able, to support the project with their time and talent. We’ve never really looked back from there."

"I can never properly thank the multitude of participants and contributors whose combined efforts have made the Demi-paradise project the extraordinary artistic success it has turned out to be."

Measure for Measure is a dark comedy where justice and punishment are recurring themes with the magnificent castle's courtrooms and prison cells providing authentic backdrops. Director Joyce Branagh - yes, Kenneth's sister - and producer Stephen decided to set the fictional ‘Vienna’ loosely in the 1950s.

Stephen's 40 or so year acting career has seen many highlights.

Theatre wise he says it has to be the premiere of Stephen Jeffries groundbreaking adaptation of Dicken’s Hard Times for Pocket Theatre Cumbria, based at the Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, back in the early 1980s: "It was two men, two women playing some 20 parts between them in a terrific piece of theatre that has since been performed all over the world. We clocked up countless miles zigzagging all over the county in our underpowered Mercedes van. It was real grass roots engagement in an era where many small theatre companies nationwide were properly publicly funded to serve and enrich the regional rural communities they served."

As for television: "Probably Police Sgt Moss, a nasty piece of work, in Island at War, an excellent ITV series set in Nazi occupied World War Two Jersey. I usually get cast as firm but fair authority types - judge, priest, doctor etc - so playing the bad guy for once was a joy.

"Radio is probably my favourite medium these days. Playing the Borsetshire Coroner back in 2011 in The Archers, at the inquest of Nigel Pargetter after his demise falling from the roof of Grey Gables was a landmark episode listened to by millions. I’ve huge respect for the professionalism and skill of the Archers team so it was a privilege to work with them. I thought about it the other day as I’m currently working on the new series of Home Front which is recorded in the same BBC Studios at The Mailbox in Birmingham. This seventh series is set in Devon so I can give rein to my native accent as well as the standard RP ones. Lovely ensemble of actors too with plenty of time for interesting conversations in the green room between takes."

So, what's post Demi-paradise.

"Actors don’t really retire of course, they just fade away. With the mortgage paid and the pension about to kick in I want to continue living modestly but above all to have the time to do what I want to do with those nearest and dearest to me. "Turning 65 this year and coming from the generation of post war baby boomers I can hope to look forward to a decent retirement. Not that I really know the meaning of the word. It’s just that new pastures, new adventures and new challenges beckon and I’m up for it. Simple as that really!"

Measure for Measure box office 01524-64998.