MARTI PELLOW is a man with a mission; he wants to emulate Frankie Miller. Not Frankie the rock star, but Frankie the actor who went on to star in the classic TV drama, Just A Boy's Game.

"I was brought up watching that Peter McDougall drama, which showed the stark reality of Glasgow life," says the Wet, Wet, Wet singer, who is now starring at the King's Theatre as the devilish Daryl Van Horne in The Witches of Eastwick.

"Peter captures the world we know so incredibly. I'd love to work in one of his plays.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm taking baby steps in that direction, but I am looking to do innovative, perhaps dangerous work.

"I keep getting sent scripts about pop stars and stuff but I don't want to act what I've already been through.

"What I would love to do is a McDougall drama, something in Glasgow dialect - and no one writes better Glasgow than Peter."

The story highlights the ambition in the man. Now 44, he wants to stretch himself. The single role of 1980s pop star is no longer enough for him.

Fifteen years ago Marti's role models were James Taylor and Joni Mitchell. Today he wants to be Bobby Carlyle.

Right now, however, he is making rapid progress up the acting ladder while starring in musical theatre in The Witches of Eastwick.

But he has worked hard for his success.

"I sort of fell into this work, but I really love it. It is still performance and being up there on stage communicating, but I love to learn.

"I'm forever saying to other members of the cast. Am I standing in the right place? Or should I be saying that line louder?'"

Showing that famous grin, he adds: "Lots of musicals can be quite cheesy, but there is a lot of hamburger in this one. And for hamburger read darkness'."

Marti's role sees him playing the devil in a smart suit. The story is set in a small New Hampshire town and tells of three women who have lost their husbands - and the plot. They dream of their ideal man - and get Van Horne, alias Marti.

He adds: "The show is set in a sort of twilight zone world of curtain twitchers and I come in and rearrange all their furniture. And I get to be dark, really dark.

"When I appeared in Chicago as Billy Flynn I thought of all the dodgy lawyers I had met. For this part I think of Stephen King novels, the horror films I have seen."

But how strange is it for a Clydebank boy to be working in Luvvyland. Was he uncomfortable assuming the role of 'Actor'?

"I think I was for the first day," he says. "But before I walked in to rehearsals I was already off the page. I came into the room with lots of ideas.

"And you have to do that because the actors around me are very good. They will steal the show from you if you don't have it together. I'm first in and last out at night. I'm all over this production."

Talking to Marti now is refreshing. There is no sign of the man who lived in his own personal darkness for so many years with drink and drugs problems.

He is clearly driven to be the best he can be, whether acting, or solo performances as a singer, or playing with the Wets.

Tommy Cunningham, Neil Mitchell and Graeme Clarke are coming to see their pal perform in a musical for the first time.

"They have been really supportive," he says. "And it will be great to have all my boys round about me. We're working on new material with a view to a new album."

Marti is really enjoying being back at home, with his dad, pals and fiancee Eileen Catterson around him.

"The city is changing so much," he says. "And I love it. When the skies are blue you don't want to leave.

"And I love to talk to people when I walk about. Usually I get asked the same questions: What are you doing here? When are you playing? Can you get us tickets?"

After the final show next month he is off to Memphis for a holiday. It is a sort of second home, where he spent so many times recording with the Wets.

"I'm like a kid in a candy store," he says of life. "The family are great, Eileen's great and I have my pals around me.

"All I need now is Peter McDougall's phone number." The Witches Of Eastwick runs until May 9.