ANTONY Costa will be returning to the Grand Opera House for a Beast of a role in this winter's pantomime Beauty And The Beast from December 15 to January 7.

To take on his transformative role, he must first complete another transformation from his present theatrical engagement, which brings the Blue singer to York from Monday in Ruth Rendell's thriller A Judgement In Stone.

"I'm playing Roger Meadows, the local gardener, who helps the Coverdale family, but he has a bit of 'previous' for larceny, GBH, beating people up, so he's a nice bloke!" says Costa. "I play one of the suspects under investigation for the Coverdale murders, though I don't want to give too much away! What I can say is the show's gone down really well and audiences love it."

A Judgement In Stone marks the third time Costa has worked for impresario Bill Kenwright after performing in the musicals Blood Brothers (in the West End) and Save The Last Dance. "Bill phoned me and offered me the role; I was overwhelmed that I was doing a play, and it's great to be working with Bill again," he says.

After Blue split, he had to decide what to do next. Some boy-band singers look to go solo – Blue cohort Simon Webbe has just released his latest album, Smile, by the way – but North Londoner Costa had other ambitions. "In my case, I went off and did Willy Russell's Blood Brothers," he recalls. "When you're 18, you don't think of anything else but eating, breathing and sleeping pop music, but when Blue first came to an end in 2005, I didn't know what to do at first, but my first love was acting, so I went for a casting with Bill Kenwright for Blood Brothers and got the role of Mickey [one of the ill-fated twins from Liverpool] when I was just sitting in front of the TV at the time watching Jeremy Kyle."

Costa remembers sitting in the Blood Brothers audition room with "loads of people", thinking he had at best a one in 30 chance of landing the prized part. "I did my bit, Bill put his hand up, and I thought, 'I've bu**ered this up, I'll get my taxi', but Bill asked me if my family was from Liverpool [Kenwright's home city, no less], which I took as a compliment, and I got asked back."

Costa now has two careers bubbling away, in and outside Blue. "We've been together on and off for 17 years now," he says. "Now, when Blue do shows, like this summer, mums are bringing their kids, which is so surreal as the mums have grown up with us, first watching us when teenagers, and we've always found that blokes have liked us too, coming up in the street to say 'you're all right, we like Blue!' or telling you 'I had one of your songs as our first dance at our wedding'."

Looking ahead to December, Costa will not be the only member of Blue appearing in pantomime. "Lee [Ryan] will be in Darlington, Duncan [James] is doing Liverpool and Simon [Webbe], High Wycombe," he says.

A Judgement In Stone runs at Grand Opera House, York, from Monday to Saturday. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com.york A Judgement In Stone runs at Grand Opera House, York, from tonight to Saturday. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com.york