AN EX-BROMLEY schoolboy is due to make an emotional return to the area as part of an all-star cast. Martin Wenner, who appeared in Soldier Soldier and Harbour Lights, is coming back to the area after landing the part of Mr Knightly in Jane Austen's Emma.

The play has already received brilliant reviews while on its sell-out tour of the UK. Wenner is part of a cast which includes Poirot-sidekick Jonathan Cecil and Laura Howard, who co-starred with John Nettles in Midsomer Murders.

But the Bishop Challoner old boy is relishing the opportunity to come home.

He said: "The last time I was in the area was 1985 when I was in my first play at the Warehouse Theatre, in Croydon, straight after drama school.

"But while I am here I will take the opportunity to walk past the old school and around the parts of Bromley I grew up."

Wenner took a brave decision for an actor and stopped working for six years to bring up his three sons and a daughter.

But he has come back into the arena and says the move was definitely the right thing for him to do.

Wenner said: "I took a break and it was slightly nerve-wracking but, to be honest, I have come back into acting and I feel so much fresher and ready to take on challenging roles.

"I learned an awful lot while I was away from acting and I have brought that to some of the roles I am taking on now.

"I love playing Jane Austen characters because they are so well-drawn.

"There is real scope to explore the character and portray him as I want to, which is not perhaps how some people may have conceived it."

Wenner has several projects lined up for the future but is keeping quiet about them for now.

He said: "There is a major new series for the BBC which we will be filming over the next few months.

"I think it will be transmitted later this year or next but I am not allowed to say anything about it."

- Emma is at the Fairfield's Ashcroft Theatre, Park Lane, Croydon, from Tuesday, March 5, to Saturday, March 9. To book tickets, call the box office on 020 8688 9291.