DAVID Benson has a lot to thank Kenneth Williams for. A career, for starters.

For the past six years, the talented actor has received rave reviews and endless demand for his one-man show Think No Evil Of Us, based on the life of the eccentric Carry On star.

Despite his involvement in other acting projects - including, more recently, a play inspired by Frankie Howerd - public appetite for the Williams show is as strong as ever.

First performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 1996, where it won a Fringe First Award, the show offers much more than Benson's (first-rate) physical and vocal impersonation.

Despite his popularity in the Carry On films, Williams was never at ease with his fame - or his homosexuality - and, if his diaries are anything to go by, lived his life in a near-constant state of psychological turmoil.

Through a series of imagined scenarios, Benson peels back the layers of Williams' complex personality, revealing a character that sharply contrasts with the actor's flamboyant public self.

He also weaves the tragic story of his own childhood and his mother's mental illness into the narrative, drawing parallels between his and Williams' predicaments.

Benson's links with the actor go back a long way, in fact. As a teenager, he won a Jackanory storywriting competition and had his winning entry read out on national TV by Williams.

You can see Think No Evil Of Us - My Life With Kenneth Williams at the Theatre Royal Winchester on Saturday at 8pm.

Tickets cost from £8. Box office: 01962 840440.