By Melanie Wallwork

melanie.wallwork@nqnw.co.uk

SIR Ian McKellen's sitcom Vicious is back on screens for a second run and the acting legend says he would be up for a third.

The show returned to ITV1 on Monday, following the adventures and mishaps of loving and bickering couple Freddie Thornhill, played by Sir Ian, and Stuart Bixby, played by Derek Jacobi.

Throughout the six-part series, viewers will see the pair and their pals try ballroom dancing, discover what the inside of a gym looks like and try sushi for the first time.

Sir Ian, patron of Bolton Little Theatre, said: "It’s deliberately old fashioned as part of the joke. It reminds you very much of sitcoms like I Love Lucy.

"Our writer Gary Janetti knows the tradition of sitcoms very well.

"He has been involved in Will & Grace, which is one of the later versions of that. So yes, it’s old fashioned and it’s meant to be.

"It’s about some old people for a start, so isn’t that rather suitable?

"But on the other hand, the fun of it is that the characters you’ve got in this are not characters you normally see in a standard sitcom.

"Two of them are gay, there is a woman whose juices are still flowing, and a young man who loves hanging around with gay men, although he’s straight himself.

"These are original ideas, so in that sense it’s actually not old fashioned at all."

The cast also features Frances de la Tour, Marcia Warren, Iwan Rheon, Philip Voss and guest star Celia Imrie.

Sir Ian, whose new film Mr Holmes is out later this month, says it was a very easy decision to sign up for series two and even has his sights on the next.

The Lord of the Rings actor said: "Yes it was, although I can’t remember how it happened, really.

"There was talk about it and you wonder, ‘Oh, do I want to get on with something else?’, but then the moment arrives and it was so obvious that we had to do it.

"No question. If there was a third series, I expect we’d be ready to say ‘yes’ again. It’s a very fun show to do.

"With the live audience, and all the actors acting out to the audience a little bit, there’s something rather theatrical about it."

Speaking of the reaction to the first series, the former Bolton School pupil said: "Very good and, in my experience, I think the audience is quite young, but also middle aged and older people — gay and straight people too.

"I think it’s quite wide ranging and it’s a family show. There are people who absolutely adore it with a passion."

Since coming out in 1988, Sir Ian has been happy to speak and write about gay issues around the world. Does he think Vicious can change homophobic stereotypes?

The 76-year-old said: "For Freddie and Stuart to say, ‘I love you’ to each other, which they do quite seriously, is a complete breakthrough. But I don’t think you know at the time if something’s really breaking through.

It’s only years later and you look back and say ‘That broke though the walls’.

"It’s not the prime function of Vicious to change the world. Our first duty is to make people chuckle, giggle and laugh out loud. And tune in because they’ve enjoyed it and want more next week."

Vicious is on ITV1 at 9pm on Monday.