impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh was the star when he raised the curtain yesterday on his latest production.

For it is thanks to the generosity of Sir Cameron that the people in the West Highland fishing port of Mallaig will no longer have to be treated in an old corrugated iron shed and near-derelict caravan and can have a modern #750,000 health centre.

Locals will be glad to see the back of the draughty structure that led to them dubbing health care in the village the ''National Hut Service.''

Sir Cameron, who owns the nearby 12,000-acre Nevis Estate, stepped in with #100,000 when plans for the new #750,000 centre hit a snag and expensive ground preparations on the site were required.

But the producer of such big hits as Miss Saigon and Cats, who used to holiday in the area with his uncle and aunt when aged six, gave the money on condition that an old cottage at the medical centre site was retained because it held childhood memories for him.

This was agreed and the cottage has been preserved for a warden or elderly couple.

Sir Cameron said: ''I was delighted to be the catalyst in the creation of Mallaig's long-needed health clinic.

''For decades, anyone needing dental treatment in Mallaig, it was a toss up between risking the leaky caravan or trusting in a bottle of whisky.

''Now thanks to the tireless efforts of the local community led by Councillor Charlie King, the barren desolation of St Elmo's has been transformed into Mallaig's answer to ER.''

Councillor King said: ''The opening of the new health centre is the best thing to happen in Mallaig for many years.''