In a quiet room next to the rehearsal studios in Glasgow, Greg McHugh attaches his backside to a foldaway chair and appears eager to chat.

It's a rather slimmer backside than he seemed to possess back in the day when he was the camp tank commander Gary, romping in the BBC-created desert and listening to Dancing Queen. Indeed, he's also a long way away from his Channel Four Fresh Meat food-beast character, Howard.

But it's fitting McHugh should be all spritely and alive, given he's about to enter Pantoland for the very first time in Peter Pan, at the King's Theatre in Glasgow.

There isn't a panto star out there who hasn't admitted that these six-week stints can tougher than an early morning audience. And, of course, the performances have to be laid on thicker than the Wicked Queen's eyeshadow. So is the 34 year-old ready? Does the Smee-to-be actually know what he's letting himself in for?

"Not really," he says, grinning. "And that is a bit scary, to be honest. I've done a lot of live work as a stand-up over the years but the sheer enormity of two shows a day, with one day actually having three performances... well, I'm not sure how it will all go.

"That's the general scariness, but singularly I have to deal with the idea of singing songs and dancing - and not falling over," he adds."I've been warned to wash my tights a lot. I dread to think the state they'll be in. Stinky and smelling of Vaseline, I guess. But I'm really looking forward to it. The energy of the audience will keep me going. And the love."

McHugh didn't grow up dreaming of the day he could wear the male equivalent of Dorothy's red shoes. "No, I didn't have jazz hands," he admits. "When I was a kid, I was obsessed with football, tennis, golf. It was all about sports, although I would watch a lot of film and comedy."

His civil servant dad introduced young Greg to Reggie Perron, Dad's Army and Hancock's Half Hour. "I'd watch my dad wet himself, and at the time I didn't realise how much comedy I was watching," he recalls. "But it paid off because there is a real essence of Dad's Army in Gary."

McHugh chose to study Business at Stirling University before surrendering to the call of the entertainment world.

"That's true," he says. "But when I was 16 I wrote a piece called Class Act for the Traverse Theatre, this terrible angsty thing, so there were always signs that's where my heart lay. And even when I went to uni, while I was supposed to be doing my degree, most of my time was spent in am dram and writing."

From university he moved to drama college, then to London where he ran a stand-up night in Farringdon with a friend. He tried his hand at performance but success was slower to arrive than a rusty First World War tank. His 2005 Edinburgh show, Other People, he remembers was voted "worst in festival". But then his friend, the comedian Will Andrews, suggested doing something based on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gary: Tank Commander was born, based on a camp man McHugh had overheard on a bus standing up to a gang of hoodlums. It set him on the road to writing and performance success. But has he long been desperate to show the world his Twankey or, in this case, his Smee?

"Yes, I have actually," he says, "but the working schedules I've had in the past haven't allowed for it. This year however I did the work I wanted, knowing I could slide into panto in December. And what#s fantastic is appearing in panto in Glasgow. The city has such a great music hall history. There's a weight that comes with that, having to follow in the footsteps of some of the greatest performers ever at the King's Theatre, such as Gerard Kelly, but that makes it very special."

Will he meet that comedy expectation? McHugh's comedy delivery has, until now, been very much sleight of hand. His Tank Commander worked because he was a slightly effete character, an unexpected softness in a world of tough boots and tougher voices. His performances in Fresh Meat and the likes of Bad Education have all been fairly subtle. But in panto, nuance goes out the window faster than Peter Pan when Mr Darling appears in the room.

"Yes, this is a big and unashamedly camp performance," he admits. "It's very much 'Hiya, pals!' But at the same time it has to have a logic to it, just in the same way Howard in Fresh Meat had a logic to him, albeit strange at times. The stars who've played here to great success haven't come out shouting."

McHugh's Tank Commander will most certainly be detectable beneath the stripey T-shirt of Captain Hook's dimwitted bosun. It makes sense if the Peter Pan producers would want to hope to exploit his sitcom character.

"I wouldn't use the word 'exploit'", he says, grinning. "I'd prefer to say 'utilise the strengths and characteristics of such a known character'. But the context of this show allows for the Gary-type character to be bigger and bolder."

As we chat, it's clear McHugh may be a little trepidatious about doing battle in Pantoland, but the enthusiasm far outweighs the anxieties.

"I loved panto as a kid," he recalls. "I went to pantos in Edinburgh when I was growing up, and I loved to see Andy Gray and Allan Stewart. This is an exciting world for me."

McHugh can step onto Captain Hook's boat knowing his career is going swimmingly. Fresh Meat is due to shoot its final series in March 2015, and he's delighted to be reunited with Jack Whitehall and the rest of the cast, who were all at his wedding last year. McHugh has also written two scripts, one he can't talk about 'for political reasons', but another - a dark comedy - is currently with BBC One.

"I'm looking carefully at my choices," he maintains. "I've been offered a lot of comedy this year that I've decided not to do. I've got a film coming out next year called Kicking Off in which I play a cockney dude who kidnaps a referee, but I'm trying to make sure the comedy is spaced out."

So all is completely happy in Greg McHugh's life?

"Not all," he admits, with a wry smile. "I'm very lucky because I've had three series of Tank Commander. I'm seen as someone who can sustain a series of writing. But the biggest difficulty is there are no real development paths. BBC Three is almost impossible to get on to, BBC Two is totally impossible and BBC One very difficult. I'm not sorted; I've got medium profile. But it means you have a lot of meetings with people and you have to compromise an awful lot. In Scotland, getting television made is particularly difficult. The budgets seem to be shrinking."

McHugh is set to tackle the American market. "I'm going over in February to pitch Gary to the cable networks, and I've pitched another idea to a production company, about a football coach from Scotland who goes over to coach a college team, under false pretences, using his brother's identity.

"What I find is the States are really accepting of an idea while on British TV there is an obsession with the demographic. But what does that mean?

"You have to wonder who Only Fools And Horses was aimed at. Or Fawlty Towers, or The Office. The script should be the root. It should be all about the story."

As is the case in panto. "That's exactly right. In Peter Pan you have this really strong narrative."

But JM Barrie was a death-obsessed, stunted individual who killed Lost Boys for fun, Greg.

"That's true," he admits. "That's why with this story we're keeping closer to the Disney version."

And of course, like Peter Pan, actors never really grow up, do they? They just change character.

"Yes, and I certainly don't want to grow up," he agrees, laughing out loud. "Not at all. I'm making a living from playing an idiot. Why would I want that to change?"

Peter Pan is at the King's Theatre, Glasgow from today until January 11. For ticket and performance details, go to www.atgtickets.com/venues/kings-theatre/