Liverpool's other famous 'fab four' on their life growing up during 1960s Beatlemania

Get Back to the beginnings of Beatlemania and Twist and Shout with a new stage show that pays homage to two Fab Fours. Because there was more than one to break out of Liverpool at roughly the same time. Closely following in the footsteps of John, Paul, George and Ringo came Joe, Paul, Mark and Stephen - aka the McGann brothers, who went on to create an acting dynasty.

After growing up in Kensington, a deprived working-class area of the city, with their younger sister Clare, all the brothers made their names on stage and screen. And they couldn't fail to be influenced by the other four working-class boys who made good through showbusiness, too.

The stories of both foursomes have been brought together in a theatrical production written and performed by Mark McGann, alongside his brother Paul, who is best known for the cult film Withnail and I as well as The Monocled Mutineer and Hornblower.

Mark McGann: In His Life maps his time growing up with his family in Merseyside during Beatlemania. It includes his
memories of 1960s Liverpool with both Beatles songs and original music sung by him and Paul.

Twice nominated for an Olivier award - once for Lennon in 1985 and Up on the Roof in 1987 - the actor, now 64, says fans can expect "some great music, poignant moments and laughs, new insight into our lives and stories not heard publicly before, and a genuine celebration of what it is to be brothers".

He also tells the Express: "As boys growing up in Liverpool in the Sixties and Seventies we were, of course, surrounded by this music - and the songs in the show reinforce the narrative.

"When someone in our house started singing we would all end up joining in, lined up by my mum in front of the washing-up bowl for our evening wash or in our bedroom, tucked into our two sets of bunk beds at night.

"I remember Clare, our baby sister, in her pram singing 'yeah, yeah, yeah, the chorus of She Loves You when it came on the radio, and us using tennis racquets for guitars.

"We would sing in the church choir, of course, going to a Catholic grammar school, as well as in other places. We were the first generation of explorers in the family in that respect."

The show isn't Mark's first brush with the Beatles. He played the lead in a stage production of the singer's life at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre in 1981. Then he reprised the role for the show at the Royal Court Theatre in August 2015 as well as for other performances.

Aged just 24, Mark also played his hero in the film John and Yoko - A Love Story after being personally chosen by Yoko Ono for the role. He recalls: "I remember being on set in New York and Yoko bringing Sean [their son] down to watch and he was only about 10.

"It freaked him out seeing someone dressed and sounding like his dad, and Yoko graciously apologised and whisked him away.

"Later she invited me to their apartment in The Dakota and I sat on a white sofa opposite her on another white sofa with the white piano John had written Imagine on.

"Sean drew me a picture and Yoko talked about 'the bubble' - that level of fame John was at.Yoko said John had hated it but had come to accept it. Then she lowered her head and said, 'But it didn't save him.'"

Mark was at home in Liverpool when he heard the news that Lennon had been murdered by Mark Chapman on December 8, 1980, outside his home in New York.

Mark says: "I remember my brother Stephen, who would have been 17 at the time, running upstairs and holding up a copy of the Liverpool Daily Post, which said 'Lennon Shot Dead'.

"That day felt warm for December and the light was sort of yellow. The whole of the city seemed to be in silence and everyone just walked or caught the bus into the centre for an impromptu vigil, just like in New York. It was only a few months later that I found myself actually playing him."

Mark's new show opens with the Lennon song Nobody Told Me, which includes the line: "Strange days indeed". It also features his singles Working Class Hero, Jealous Guy and Imagine, plus several Beatles numbers. Mark, who is a musician, too, added some of his own songs, including one he wrote about his late father Joe, who was badly injured as a soldier during the Normandy Landings on D-Day.

The metal worker died in his early 60s and Mark says the song A Heartbeat Away was his way of grieving for his dad. For the most part, the show reflects a happy albeit poor childhood, which provided the four fiercely ambitious brothers with the tools to make their escape.

Mark, who has a long-time involvement in the annual International BeatleWeek, held every August in Liverpool to celebrate the band, also says of his show: "The real pleasure has been being able to revisit these wonderful memories we had as kids.

"Liverpool then wasn't the internationally recognised and revitalised city it has become in recent years. But despite the deprivation that came with the demise of the docks, there was also this pride in the creative arts - that it was never seen as posh or unmanly to go into the arts in Liverpool."

He reflects on one poem, Merseybeat, which features in the show: "It's about Paul and I playing out as kids as dirty youngsters in Liverpool's rundown streets. It was impossible to grow up in the city at that time - which was still vibrantly feeling the effects of Beatlemania and Merseybeats - without catching that sense of anything being possible."

And anything certainly was possible for the McGanns. Paul successfully auditioned for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and made his breakthrough in the BBC comedy drama Give Us a Break with Robert Lindsay in 1983.

Eldest brotherJoe, now 67, is best known for his role as Charlie Burrows in the TV comedy The Upper Hand, which ran from 1990 to 1996, and has also enjoyed a long career on stage and screen. Youngest brother Stephen is known to millions as Dr Turner in Call the Midwife.

Mark hopes that Stephen, who lives in Hertfordshire with his wife, Call the Midwife creator Heidi Thomas, will visit Somerset to watch his show when it arrives at the Merlin Theatre in Frome, where Mark now lives.

He is also keeping his fingers crossed that his own wife, Caroline Guinness-McGann, will be in the audience. "She couldn't come before [when the show was in Liverpool] as we have a very old dog neither of us can bear to leave alone," Mark explains.

Caroline is from the legendary family that made the Irish stout, and her upbringing couldn't have been more different to her husband's. He says: "We are from totally opposite ends of the social spectrum but we met in the middle.

"She was no trust-fund kid, although she did enjoy some of the privileges of that background, but she worked in the music video industry and was very well regarded. We have that love and joy of music
in common."

It is well documented Caroline is HIV positive and the couple have spoken in the past about the impact on their
marriage and their work in de-stigmatising the condition. He tells me: "All I will say is she continues to be an important activist and is in robust good health."

In the meantime he hopes his two performances at the Merlin, proceeds of which will go to the theatre, will give the venue a much-needed boost. "Like many local theatres it lost its grant and relies on volunteers," he says. "We've done three sell-out performances at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, where I started in August.

"The Frome version will be tweaked slightly to involve Paul even more, and I'm hoping it will provide a blueprint for a future show involving more McGanns - possibly even all of us!"

* Mark McGann: In His Life is at the Merlin Theatre in Frome, Somerset for two shows on September 20. Tickets cost £30. Visit merlintheatre.co.uk