FREDDIE BOARDLEY may not be the most famous actor Scotland has ever produced - but he's certainly one of the most colourful.

In a career lasting thirty years, Freddie has starred in Brookside, had his own BBC1 comedy drama Bad Boys, and toured with the prestigious National Theatre in London.

Along the way he has worked with everyone from Gregor Fisher to Robbie Coltrane to hellraiser John Hurt.

And the man whom Scots playwright Peter McDougall once described as "James Dean wi' the flu" has never been a stranger to female company.

Now, 56-year-old Freddie, who also appeared in Coronation Street - he was Elsie Tanner's lodger - reveals there's a reason why he's not been seen around the West End hotspots in recent times.

Freddie is working on his autobiography. And it promises to be one of the best, and funniest books ever written about an actor's life.

"I've been thinking about doing this for a few years now," says the 56-year-old, "I can't quite believe some of the things that have happened to me.

"It was Rab C Nesbitt writer Ian Pattison who put the thought about writing the book in my head.

"He reckons the adventures I've had will make a great read."

There's no doubt. Freddie's life is a fascinating one. Growing up in Ayr, he had no direction in life and joined the army. And that experience provides a great first chapter.

'It was mental," he says of his stint in the Forces. "To tell the truth, I was a bit of a hooligan when I was at school. But I was heavily into athletics and PE and stuff.

"Teachers said they felt I should join the army - and I did."

But Freddie - who's played a bad boy and a hooligan in virtually every television production to come out of Scotland - didn't see a future as a trained killer. But he didn't see a career as an actor either.

He joined drama school after a night out in the pub when a bloke told him that drama college was the perfect place to meet girls".

"After the army I went to Langside College to do Highers and then this guy in a pub said to me, Why don't you come to drama school with us?'. I said Whit's that?'. I'd never been in a theatre in my life. But I applied and went - and now I've done it ever since.'' The bloke in the pub was right. Freddie met lots of women in his career, working with the likes of Phyllis Logan when he starred alongside the Lovejoy actress in a Borderline Theatre production of Guys and Dolls.

But it's no surprise that the opposite sex fancied Freddie. He was regularly cast as the mean moody young man.

However, the book will reveal that women have often given Freddie great cause for concern.

One great story tells what happened to him while touring Spain with the National Theatre.

It involves a very attractive woman, a spiked drink - and Freddie waking up minus his £1000 watch and all his clothes.

There are other tales of women in Finland, women in Canada. In fact, women across the world, from Partick to Poland.

But that's not to suggest this is simply an actor telling tales of conquests. It's about the incredible range of experiences an actor can enjoy - or endure. It's about meeting people who make a lasting impression.

"John Hurt liked me," says Freddie," of the actor he worked with at the National. "I think it was I because I could drink as much as him."

Everybody likes Freddie, from pals such as Alex Norton to Sandy Morton to Brian Cox.

John Byrne loved him, casting him in several of his plays, including The Slab Boys.

Director Bill Bryden loved Freddie too, casting him in cult promenade productions of the The Ship, and the Big Picnic.

There are countless stories, running across the world, from Toronto to Troon, from pantoland to prestigious theatre, where the self-deprecating actor reveals his own mistakes and foibles.

But that's not to suggest Freddie's career hasn't been successful. If he is a rebel, it doesn't negate the talent, or his genuine love for good acting.

He starred in the immensely cerebral Six Characters In Search Of An Author and picked up great reviews. He's starred in plays by Brecht, and Ibsen.

And anyone who lasts five years with the National Theatre has to have serious talent. It was that talent which saw Freddie cast alongside Karl Howmann in Bad Boys, the BBC 1 drama about two ex-cons.

Freddie explains: "I want to open up that world, of the highs such as Bad Boys to the lows, to the small parts."

Freddie's story will feature fun on stage with Gregor Fisher, when the future Rab C Nesbitt star couldn't keep a straight face.

And Freddie's nightmare experiences in Scotland performing in the most obscure plays in the most obscure places to an audience that could fit inside a bothy.

He'll talk about starring in Brookie as gangster Alisdair Finnegan and reveals the reality of soap television and working with old pal Gerard Kelly, who played his brother Callum.

He'll also talk about being consistently cast as a either a rock n' roll rebel or a heavy. "People say you are typecast but everything I do is different.

'If they think I look like a hard man, fine, but I certainly don't look like any hard men I know!'' He also recalls being labelled as a gangster - by the police. 'Cops stop me all the time,'' he says.

'When I walk home from the pub at night in the West End they pull me up and say Where do you think you're going then?' I say Home' and tell them where I live and leave them baffled.

"They feel they know me as a hoodlum. But they can't put a name to it.'' He laughs: "It's an occupational hazard.'' Bad boys, bad girls, the high life, the low life, Freddie's story looks to be fascinating.

How many actors can tell a tale about a gypsy actress's curse after he turned her down, which turns out to be true?

Oh, and there's a lovely story about Freddie's relationship with one of Abba. And here's a clue. It didn't involve Benny or Bjorn.