PATRICK McGuinness, star of the successful television series Phoenix Nights and Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere, takes his Dark Side comedy tour to South Lakeland next year.

The Bolton humorist is set to bring his own brand of stand-up entertainment to Kendal Leisure Centre on February 28, 2006, reports James Williamson.

The UK tour began on October 30 this year at Huddersfield and has taken in more than 20 other venues across the country including the Morecambe Dome last Saturday.

The 32-year-old former warehouse labourer drifted in and out of jobs after leaving school before getting his big television break in the late 1990s while he was working as a pool lifeguard in Horwich, near Bolton.

He played the character Terry in The Services, an original spoof documentary that Peter Kay had written for a series of programmes called The Comedy Lab for Channel Four.

Having impressed in this short cameo role, he was given his most famous role as one half of the boisterous bouncer duo of Max and Paddy in the comedy series Phoenix Nights.

The popularity of the two characters, played by himself and Peter Kay, spawned a six-episode spin-off series called Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere, in which the two men travel across the country in a mobile home with disaster and good fortune present in equal measure.

Since then, his entertainment career has really taken off with appearances on the Alan Partridge comedy series and Sky One's celebrity football reality show, The Match.

The Dark Side tour has, so far, been a major success with venues selling out well in advance of their scheduled date and anyone interested is advised to book early if they do not want to miss out.

Aside from the tour, fans will be delighted to hear that McGuinness has plenty of plans in the pipeline.

"Il be fronting a new football programme for Sky One early next year, which looks like a lot of fun, the quiz show that I recorded for Channel Four is a little block of gold and you will be hearing my voice a lot over the next couple of months as I have just done some adverts for radio," he said.

The show will begin at 8pm at Kendal Leisure Centre and tickets will cost £14.50. To book, telephone the Leisure Centre on 01539-729511.