Jason Donovan talks ahead of shows in Birmingham, Telford and Stafford

The man who shot to fame in Neighbours, dated Kylie, had the best-selling album of 1989 and thrilled vast West End audiences in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat – before starring on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and Strictly Come Dancing – will be starring in his first spoken word show.

Not that fans will be deprived of the hits. Jason will be performing a selection of his biggest songs in an acoustic setting.

And nothing will be off limits when he takes to the stage for the 90-minute show – including his relationships, his former cocaine habit and more.

“I’m really looking forward to doing this tour. It’s something new, something I’ve not done before and something that the fans are looking forward to.

“There’ll be music, there’ll be stories, there’ll be things people have never seen before and there’ll be the chance for them to interact. It’s a real up-close-and-personal sort of show. I can’t wait.”

Jason will reflect on his time in Neighbours during the show, chatting about his time as Scott Robinson and explaining how that character still travels with him.

“When we were on the Ten Good Reasons tour, we had a massive show at Hammersmith. There was a lot of expectation with it being the London show. We asked Kylie if she could come and join us but she wasn’t around.

“Then, sitting with the crew in catering one night, someone said ‘Have you thought about getting a labrador on stage?’ They were referencing Bouncer from Neighbours, of course.

“We all laughed and thought it would be a funny idea to introduce someone that was petit and blond, one of the members of the Neighbours cast – and then Bouncer walks on. So we’d teased everyone that it might be Kylie, but actually Bouncer turned up.

“Finding a dog that looked like Bouncer at the last minute proved difficult. It’s not like you can audition a dog. And let me tell you, hiring a dog isn’t cheap. Anyway, we booked a Bouncer lookalike.

“And then we got a call on the day of the show to say that Lookalike Bouncer was ill so they were sending an identical Stunt Lookalike Bouncer. Suddenly Bouncer had turned from a meat eating well rounded canine to a slim and petit Jenny Craig lookalike

“Anyway the dog came on stage WITH its owner which wasn’t what I expected, I had thought the dog would wander on and over to me. But it didn’t. It forgot it was supposed to be Bouncer and started being a sniffer dog wondering if there were any treats in the stage.”

Jason has spent a lifetime in the public eye and has learned to deal with fame. And in Jason Donovan and His Amazing Midlife Crisis he will explain how he’s handled it.

“I never got into this business to be famous. It was a by-product of what I do, what I’m passionate about. However, that’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed most parts of my fame. Look I came from Australia, where it was relatively calm, and then I came here and it was insane.

“I found Joseph particularly challenging because of the workload, being in a theatre and the responsibilities of leading a cast eight shows a week. It was really claustrophobic. But other things happen and you start to not take this whole game too seriously. Today I can deal with it but back then I found the intensity of it all difficult.”

Jason will also talk about his rebellious 1990s, when he went off the rails. “The 90s was about rebellion. You find a lot of famous people rebel against their own image particularly if they’ve feel like they can’t even control their own image. I was trying to be cool in the 90s, but in fact I came to realise there is no such thing as cool, no such thing.

“I had photographers chasing me around the world. It was just mad. There were people following me into the toilet to get an autograph.”

These days, Jason is happily married with three kids and likes to combine work with downtime, so that he can spend time with his family. He’ll talk about their importance and the way they help him to keep his feet on the ground.

“As long as the kids are getting tickets to Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Beyoncé, Coldplay or Chainsmokers through my contacts, then they’re happy. There are some great moments that come about because of doing this. It was incredible meeting Prince William at a Gary Barlow show, for instance.

“And the reaction from Strictly was amazing. I think the kids were embarrassed when I signed up for that – but as soon as I started winning they didn’t think it was so bad after all.”

l Jason will also take his show to Telford’s Oakengates Theatre on May 8 and Stafford’s Gatehouse Theatre on May 9.