"It's the only one of David Croft's comedies that I was never in," says Jeffrey who tours with the show to Worthing and Eastbourne.

Jeffrey admits it was a bit of an unknown quantity, given that the Rene role inevitably instantly brings Kaye to most people's minds.

"But I just have to take it by the throat and make it my own. I am not doing an impression of Gordon Kaye. I am playing it my own way, which means dressing up as Rene and putting on a funny French accent!"

The important thing is to get across Rene as the naughty boy who is also a survivor in difficult times: "At the end of the day, he does whatever it takes to stay alive."

Jeffrey might not have been in the original 'Allo 'Allo, but he did make one appearance in the TV series which spawned it, the highly-serious Secret Army, which it uproariously spoofed.

"I was very impressed with Secret Army, with the speed at which they turned this thing around. They did it weekly. They had already recorded films to put in the studio stuff, and they managed to pull it off very well. I was surrounded by Bernard Hepton and Jan Francis and people like that."

It was before Jeffrey was taken up by Jimmy Perry and David Croft for the touring stage version of Dad's Army in which he took over as the spiv, Private Walker. Of the surviving originals, only John Laurie didn't take to the road.

"It was an incredible experience for a young lad. I was 29 at the time, and there I was as part of Captain Mainwaring's platoon."

David Croft's and Jimmy Perry's brilliance was in the way that the characters matched the personalities of the actors: "By the time I met Arthur Lowe, he had become Captain Mainwaring. He was a very private man. You could not get under his skin. John le Mesurier was great company."

As a result, Jeffrey appeared in one of the episodes of the final Dad's Army TV series, Wake Up Walmington in which the platoon attempts to do precisely that by dressing up as menacing-looking fifth columnists.

It was part of a great era of TV comedy – an era which has gone.

"It was a classic time. There are not the right people in charge that want to do it anymore. It has all changed now. The youngsters are running it for the youngsters."

But the audience is still there as the theatre version of 'Allo 'Allo is amply showing…

The production tours to Connaught Theatre in Worthing between October 6 and 11 followed a by the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne between November 3 and 8.