"Most of the time, all I did was play the joker and get into trouble for being disruptive in class."

At school he excelled in athletics, music, drama and snooker! The latter leading him to the semi-pro cicuit and playing exhibition matches against the top players.

It was at an exhibition match that a BBC producer was impressed by his impersonations of his opponents and offered him the job of presenting the CBBC show, 'Clockwise'.

An appearance at the Children's Royal Variety Show followed in 1991 but it wasn't until 1993 that Darren would get his big break...

I was living in a grotty bed-sit and when I got the audition for Joseph I vowed that if I didn't get it I'd give up and go home."

But fortunately, he did get it and in May 1993, he took over the dreamcoat from Phillip Schofield for 3 weeks whilst Phillip had a holiday.

On the back of his success as Joseph, Darren created the role of Pip in Mike Reid's musical adaptation of the Dickens classic, 'Great Expectations' which broke box office records at the Theatr Clywd.

On screen, Darren was the presenter of 'Teen Win, Lose or Draw' for ITV

In 1994 Darren again appeared at The Children's Royal Variety Show this time as its youngest ever host!

The dreamcoat was donned once again this time for a national tour of 'Joseph', and then at the end of the year...

"To be honest, I was a bit dubious about 'Great Expectations' at first..."

All reservations about the popularity of 'Great Expectations' the musical were dismissed when it broke all the box office records at the prestigious Theatre Royal in Nottingham over the Christmas season.

Darren was a huge hit as he reprised the role of Pip in the show and gained many more fans during the show's run in the city!

'Great Expectations' continued with a National Tour until March 1995 when Darren took over the role of Tony Parker from Gary Wilmot in Barry Manilow's West End musical hit, 'Copacabana'.

"It's the biggest challenge I've had theatre-wise, just purely because of all the different aspects..."

Singing, dancing, playing the piano were all part and parcel of the role of Tony/Steven and Darren did it all from April 95 until September when the show ended it's run at the Prince of Wales theatre.

After 'Copa' another national tour of 'Great Expectations' followed.

In February 96, Darren was awarded the prestigious Sir James Carreras Award for Outstanding New Talent of '95, by the Variety Club of Great Britain. At the ceremony, Darren and Sir Cliff Richard stole the show with a duet from 'Summer Holiday' which was to be Darren's next project.

"We were gobsmacked. It got the biggest reaction I've ever seen."

'Summer Holiday' with Darren in the lead role of Don, opened at the Blackpool Opera House in the summer of '96. After a triumphant 6-month run, breaking all box-office records, Darren took the show on the road starting off in Manchester and taking in Bristol, London, Birmingham and Edinburgh along the way.

Darren has not only been successful on the stage. Alongside his theatre work, he has also hosted 'Just Kidding' for Sky television and the popular Saturday evening show 'You Bet!' for ITV.

In the autumn of '97, Darren was the subject of Vanessa Feltz's Channel 5 series 'Vanessa's day with...' The show spent a 'typical' day with Darren and it proved to be an 'interesting' 30 minutes viewing!

1998 was another busy year for Darren. He filmed a new TV series, with co-host Davina Macoll, for the ITV network called 'Don't try this at home' which aired in the spring.

March saw the final leg of the 'Summer Holiday' tour and an appearance alongside Eastenders star Martine McCutcheon on her 'Tribute to the Oscars' concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

"This is the first time I've ever been into the studio singing as me..." Another important date was April 6th which saw the release of Darren's first solo album. The album is made up of 16 classic covers of songs by artists such as The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder and more. If you haven't heard it yet, then what are you waiting for? At the end of April, Darren released a single from the album, a cover of the David Cassidy track 'How can I be sure?'

On Sunday 24th May, Darren once again donned the dreamcoat...in Hong Kong! Taking over from David Dixon in the production of 'Joseph...' at the Hong Long Cultural Centre, Darren co-starred with Linzi Hateley until June 21st. Before flying out to Hong Kong, Darren dyed his hair platinum blonde!

And that's the color it stayed for the final run of 'Summer Holiday' at the Blackpool Opera House. With former 'Home and Away' star, Isla Fisher, taking on the role of Barbara, the show played at the Opera House from July until November. Darren and Isla teamed up again in the Manchester Palace Theatre's Pantomime, Cinderella, until the end of January 1999.

March 1999 saw Darren open in the musical Grease at the Cambridge theatre in the role of Danny Zuko with Nikki Worral as Sandy. Darren finishes in Grease on 4th September 1999 when the show closes.

September 1999 will see Darren taking on the role of Frank'n'Furter in The Rocky Horror Show.