JOHN Shuttleworth is back, and he wants to talk to you about home security in his new show, Pillock Of The Community.

"You can call it a comeback if you like, as I haven't toured him for two years," says his creator, who transfers himself from 43-year-old Graham Fellows, of Louth, into John Shuttleworth, aged 56-57, the long-suffering Sheffield singer, songwriter, sage and former Comet warehouseman.

Graham, erstwhile punk pastiche act Jilted John, created the genial if pedantic Shuttleworth 17 years ago. Shuttleworth has always been in his 50s, ageing like Roy of the Rovers rather more slowly than the passing of the calendar years. "I am catching him up, but I don't think I'll overtake him. I'll have stopped doing him by then," Graham says.

Shuttleworth observes the changing world around him, trying but never quite succeeding in mastering the technology of the time (his pop act has sent him to the Coventry of playing variety nights in old people's homes).

"I don't think he does really change, although he seems to care less and less about the pop success thing - but that's not been a conscious decision," Graham says. "When he started it was his sole raison d'etre, so it would be good if he could do a show about songwriting seminars."

There's the rub. Graham is always coming up with fresh ideas for his comic creation, whether for his BBC Radio 4 series The Shuttleworths or for his live show.

"I did have a break from John so I could do other things. There was the Brian Appleton tour another Fellows' creation, this time a part-time lecturer obsessed with his unappreciated yet vital role in the history of pop, and there was a kids' TV show for ITV called Dangerville, where I played a crooked mayor."

Maybe Graham put Shuttleworth out to grass for mere devilment? "I think for the last Shuttleworth tour, to drum up interest, I said I was taking a break!" he admits.

He is happy to have him back in a show that will find Graham playing three characters. Shuttleworth will open and close the first half with Brian Appleton discussing his increasingly destructive relationship with Wendy the aromatherapist, in between. Post-interval, Graham introduces his latest creation, Dave Tordoff, before a Shuttleworth finale.

So, Dave Tordoff? Who's he?

"I've had him on the back burner for a while. He's a builder, self-made, nouveau riche, a sort of northern loadsamoney, in his late 30s, who's made his money out of cement and laser-screeding. He has his own business website with pictures of his house and daughter; he goes scuba-diving, he's learning to fly and has a Jet ski in his garage that needs attention," says Graham, building a picture of a man to avoid.

"He's a bit different from John! He's very in-yer-face."

John Shuttleworth in Pillock Of The Community, Harrogate Theatre, April 15, 7.30pm, and Spa Theatre, Scarborough, May 6, 8pm. Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116; Scarborough, 01723 376774.

Updated: 09:36 Friday, April 11, 2003