ACTOR Hugh Bonneville is relishing the local life as he takes to the stage in Chichester for the first time since 1996.

It’s a short commute from his family home in Milland to Chichester Festival Theatre where he is starring in Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People until May 21.

To keep himself in good shape for the challenging role of Dr Stockmann, who turns from hero to pariah over the course of the powerful play, he stops enroute to take in the countryside.

“I tend to go for a run, or a wobble, on the way to the theatre,” the Downton Abbey star told the Post.

“I park up at Cocking, or sometimes near Chilgrove or on Harting Down. I have lived in this area since I was 13 years old, and my wife Lulu was born at Trotton. “I feel very rooted here. Much as I love the West End, I prefer the commute over the South Downs to Chichester.”

Appearing on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs last month, he chose a piece of music by his composer friend and neighbour Damian Montagu entitled In a South Downs Way. He has written words to accompany it, and he listens to it when running.

Hugh didn’t meant to leave it so long to return to the stage, and the CFT, which he regularly attends as an audience-member and says has become a “real go-to theatre” in recent years.

“I was at the Old Vic in London in 2004 and was a bit of a workaholic, and then the Downton juggernaut hived into view and all that entailed which no-one quite expected, so a sustainable piece of theatre wasn’t really feasible,” he explained.

Hugh is best-known for playing genial, benevolent characters including Mr Brown in Paddington, Ian Fletcher in the TV comedies WIA and Twenty Twelve, and the Earl of Grantham in Downton, of course.

But he was drawn to the flawed, complex Dr Stockmann, who is hailed and then vilified after making a discovery about the standards of sanitation at the popular local spa, and also the play with its eternal themes of corruption and power, which had so many parallels with the whistleblowing of modern society.

“When I was sent the script, it leapt off the page at me. It really struck me how its themes were so contemporary,” he explained.

“Ibsen is often seen as dark and gloomy, and some of his plays are quite intense and supra real, with these big metaphors running through them, but An Enemy of the People feels more naturalistic and accessible.”

Versatility in his roles, taking in comedy and drama, is important to Hugh and he says that “coming from the good old rep system” he was lucky enough to play a wide variety of characters.

“I was doing Twenty Twelve and W1A at the same time as Downton which I found quite liberating,” he said.

There are rumours afoot there might be another W1A, with the BBC, currently embroiled in charter and licence fee issues, “shouldering another bout of gentle knocking”.

And he is still in touch with the Downton cast for whom he has a huge fondness.

“We do contact each other from time to time and we will always be friends. I don’t miss the freezing cold February mornings at Highclere, but I do miss the camaraderie,” he says.

Meanwhile, he will putting on his running shoes of a morning through May, and listening to some beautiful classical music in a landscape he feels blessed to be living, and working, in.

An Enemy of the People is at the CFT until May 21. Visit www.cft.org for more.