Julian Clary talks following Birmingham, Shrewsbury and Stafford shows

No, comic Julian Clary – who helped raise a lot of laughs during the 2015 pantomime Aladdin at Birmingham's Hippodrome Theatre – also has oodles of TV credits to show off, and is also a dab hand at writing children's books too.

And as he releases his latest literary creation he has been speaking about other important current events in his life, namely tieing the knot.

Marriage wasn't always on the cards, and he certainly didn't want a big do, but Julian admits that becoming a husband has changed things.

Having just returned from a late honeymoon in the Maldives after completing a gruelling schedule which included a stand-up tour that played in Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Stafford and Wrexham last year, a West End panto and his own wedding, Julian Clary is hoping for a quieter year in 2017. "When you're really tired and can barely speak to each other, the Maldives is the place to go," the softly-spoken comedian observes.

Entendre

In November, Clary – master of the double entendre, winner of 2012 Celebrity Big Brother, and all-round popular funny man – married his long-term partner Ian Mackley in a small, private ceremony at Camden Town Hall register office.

Now the happy couple are back at their home in Aldington, Kent – a 15th century manor house once owned by Noel Coward – and Clary, 57, is busy promoting The Bolds On Holiday, his third book in his The Bolds series, about the adventures of a family of laughing hyenas who live in suburban Teddington, disguised as humans.

While Clary has no children of his own, he has a brood of great-nieces and nephews to test his novels on.

"My nephews and nieces have all now had children. There are about six children around between one and eight, so there's plenty of scope," he says. "We're quite a funny family. We all laugh a lot. They understand my humour."

And the knot is now tied –

a celebration Clary posted to his 215,000 Twitter followers with a picture of the happy couple dressed in formal suits with floral corsages, as Clary signed the register.

He and Mackley have been together 11 years, and Clary said it was a mutual decision to tie the knot.

Clary, who met his advertising executive beau in 2005 on a yacht in Ibiza, was adamant he wasn't going to have a big bash.

"I couldn't bear the thought of being the centre of attention in that circumstance. It felt like a very private thing between the two of us. And you know what weddings are like – it very quickly gets out of hand with the guest list, and, 'if you invite them, you've got to invite them...'

"We had a party later. People thought they were just coming to a party, but we hung the 'just married' sign up in the hallway." He wants to devote this year to writing two further Bolds books: he always imagined there'd be five in the series.

Clary, who's also written a memoir and three adult novels, says his mind's in a different place when he's writing children's books, compared with performing live comedy. "I'm not trying to squeeze innuendos and graphic sexual references into it. I like the innocence of it," he explains.

After two punishing stand-up tours last year with The Joy Of Mincing, he'll give himself some time off from live performing, he says.

"I like fading away, and people thinking you've died for a while. Because of the nature of my act, it's quite easy to have a bit of Clary fatigue, and if you go away for a while and then come back, people are ready for a bit of filth."

However, it's important he keeps performing.

"It's imperative," Clary admits. "It's what I started out doing and there's something very addictive about making people laugh. I can do that in the privacy of my own home, but there's something about getting out there, the creative process of touring and things evolving and occurring to you in the moment. I like all that."

He says there are a few things in the pipeline, but none which he can talk about. Will there be more reality shows after his successes with Strictly Come Dancing in 2004 and Celebrity Big Brother? "How about The Jump?" he retorts, laughing. "And of course I'm still lamenting the loss of Splash. I would have been very good on that! I think I may have made my contribution to that genre."

The Bolds On Holiday is available now