He is currently giving chef Marco Pierre White a run for his money on ITV’s Hell’s Kitchen, but TV star Adrian Edmondson will serve up a first course of great live music when his band support The Counterfeit Stones at the Castle Concerts this year.

Describing their sound as “punk songs played on folk instruments”, Adrian Edmondson and The Bad Shepherds formed in 2007, after Edmondson stumbled across a mandolin in a Soho music shop and discovered he liked the sound.

They’ve since toured the UK to packed houses and very appreciative audiences, but this will be their first live performance in Medway.

The band comprises Adrian on vocals and “thrash mandolin”, Maartin Allcock (twelve string guitar, bass, vocals), Troy Donockley (Uillean pipes, cittern, whistles, vocals) and Andy Dinan on fiddle.

Although best known for his appearances in hit comedies The Young Ones, Bottom, and The Comic Strip Presents, Edmondson is no stranger to the music world.

He played the Monsters of Rock and Reading Festivals with Bad News, the Hootenanny with Jools Holland, Hyde Park with The Who, and toured with The Bonzo Dog Doo-dah Band. He even had a No 1 single with Sir Cliff Richard when the Young Ones performed the Comic Relief version of Living Doll in 1986.

Since entering Hell's Kitchen Adrian Edmondson has been keeping the other celebrities entertained with his quick wit and great sense of humour.

At the weekend wife Jennifer Saunders ate in Hell's Kitchen and told presenter Claudia Winkleman that he liked cooking at home and went into the show to learn more about the skills needed to prepare some top-class meals.

The pressure is starting to show on the celebrities though as Pierre Marco White demands high standards and total commitment from everyone involved. Meanwhile, Adrian is doing his best to use his famously mischievous sense of humour to get him through.

Adrian Edmondson and The Bad Shepherds will support The Counterfeit Stones in the first of the Castle Concerts on Wednesday, 15 July.

Tickets cost £20 and are available in person at The Central Theatre Box Office, The Brook Theatre Box Office and Medway Visitor Information Centre, by phone on 01634 338338 or online at www.castleconcerts.co.uk. Castle Concerts are organised by Medway Council.