“JUSTIN Lee-Collins may be trying to bring back the A-Team, but I’ve gone one better and brought back Rainbow.”

Bournemouth actor, comedian and stage school teacher Mike Newman Junior is not a man short on confidence.

And having just finished a four-year run presenting a live stage version of The Sooty Show at venues ranging from the BIC to Glasgow, he seems well qualified to become the custodian of a children’s show recently voted the nation’s favourite children’s TV programme of the 1980s.

“I was immensely privileged to work with Sooty for four years, but now he’s gone on to other things. We still talk regularly on Facebook and text each other.

“But then Zippy, George and Bungle called and said: ‘If Spandau Ballet are getting back together, why don’t we?’ There’s a twinkle in Mike’s eyes as he calmly informs me of this unlikely scenario in the reception of Echo Towers, and he seems to be fighting a mischievous grin.

“The show is called Zippy – Superstar DJ. He enters a DJ competition, and when he wins, it’s obvious he’s going to become a superstar.

“The show is about him preparing for the competition, leaving the Rainbow house and going off into the big, wide world.

“Zippy likes music and DJing. In fact, he likes noise – full stop. If there’s a party going on, he has to be there. He just loves being the centre of attention,” said Mike.

A wistful look now dominates Mike’s expression, and there’s more than a dash of empathy in his tone as he describes Zippy’s extrovert qualities.

But he is quick to refute any suggestion that his own personality may be equal to the temperament of the motor-mouthed character who has been taken to the hearts of millions of children.

“I’m taking over where Geoffrey Hayes left off – trying, and failing absolutely, to keep order in the Rainbow house.

“Zippy gets excited, George gets flustered and things pretty soon descend into mayhem and chaos. Its not your average bachelor pad,” said Mike, a man not given to understatement.

But reticence is not a quality with which the 38-year-old actor and drama teacher was ever likely to be imbued.

The son of comic Mike Newman, Mike Junior spent a “privileged and very fun” childhood on the set of TV game show 3,2,1, at summer shows with Bobby Davro – and being chased around the garden of the family home in Bournemouth by Freddie Starr.

A successful career in panto, and advice from Ian Smith (Harold Bishop in Neighbours), has led to Mike’s current position, running the Bournemouth Youth Theatre.

And a date for Zippy – Superstar DJ at The Regent Centre in Christchurch in August will give Mike’s students a chance to see their teacher at work.

“The Regent Centre said they would love to have the show. And it’s a chance for all the kids I’ve taught, and continue to teach, to come along, watch me work and give me marks!” said Mike.