IT hasn't taken much for me to get Derek Acorah to divulge all.

The psychic medium, perhaps best known for standing next to a former Blue Peter presenter in spooky old pubs on a satellite television show, is telling me all about the most bizarre thing he has ever been asked by an audience member.

"There have been some nutters who have asked me strange things.

"I was once asked if I've ever done something sexual with a spirit and whether I've ever woken up with a spirit person.

"I say 'no, I'm a very happy man with a wife and children and grandchildren.

"I told them 'if I ever thought a spirit would get up to that I'd put my foot down!"

Derek, of course shot to fame on Living TV's Most Haunted, which he appeared on until 2005.

He left under a cloud with presenter Yvette Fielding branding him 'a fake', something he says he will be detailing in his autobiography.

But he is still happy to give the Dorset Echo a fair bit of detail.

I find myself drawn in, gasping in all the right places, as, in true showman style, he hypes up the drama.

"In my book people will hear for the first time the truth and I 100 per cent stand by it.

"At last it will all come out and and go all around the world.

"The truth is it was a gang-up against me, a stitch up and people were jealous of me."

His ire is directed at the producers of Most Haunted, not Living TV, he says, which he has continued to film programmes for.

"Up until that time I had five and a half very happy years working on Most Haunted.

"I enjoyed it right from the pilot programme.

"I then went on to do Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns and Paranormal Egypt."

The shows he has gone on to do have been more scientifically minded, something he prefers, Derek tells me.

"When we were doing Most Haunted I didn't think the production company were using enough of the technical equipment to prove outside mediumship and bringing validation to what is experienced.

"I sat down in meetings with the new production companies and said what I thought and they took it on board and got all the equipment.

"We had some amazing results. We had thermal cameras giving us results in mediumship.

"When we were at Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire we saw shadows going across and stopped the camera and took a look.

"I'd never seen anything like these ghostly images, everyone was speechless."

For Derek's Psychic Ether tour, he is aiming to win round any sceptics who turn up at Weymouth Pavilion on May 16.

"I always ask how many people in the audience have never been to a demonstration with me and another medium.

"I say that I'm going to attempt to contact their loved ones and try and say hello.

"I explain that it might not be mum or dad, it could be an aunt or uncle or a grandparent.

"I tell them it's nothing to be worried about.

"Apart from it being an emotional evening it's full of laughter as well.

"The people's characters really come through to us and it provides people with a lot of comfort.

"We've often had audience members come along who have lost a husband or wife in the last week before the show and that husband or wife might appear and say 'I'm okay'.

"They say something special and tell the audience member that they were around them the other evening, it provides them with a lot of comfort."

Derek is looking forward to calling into Weymouth as part of the tour, of which he is not leaving a proverbial spirit stone unturned.

Continuing until November, he will be taking his tour to venues as obscure as casinos in Blackburn and Coventry and an ancient inn in Congleton, Cheshire.

"I'm really looking forward to coming to Weymouth," he enthuses.

"I've been to Weymouth a couple of times in the past, the tour has been really lovely so far.

"The reception from people in the theatres has been superb."

Next I am pleased that a subject I desperately wanted to bring up but wasn't quite sure how to is broached by Derek himself.

That twinkly little earring in his left ear that you just can't miss in all the photos.

"I was wearing a diamond earring in my ear for years and about a year ago I got an email from a man in Iowa in the States saying he wanted to buy it for $20,000 because he had heard it was a hearing piece.

"Mediums like Sally Morgan and myself are always being accused of this.

"To reply to the email, Gwen, my wonderful wife, took over.

"She wrote to the man and said 'yes, Derek will definitely sell this to you for $20,000.'

"I was quite happy to do it because it certainly didn't cost anywhere near that amount.

"He replied back and said 'I realise you are telling the truth and you are not using a hearing piece.'

"We were never going to rip him off but it took a lot for him to realise it was a normal earring!"

People in financial dire straits also beg Derek for help, he reveals.

"When it's been the Grand National I've had people get hold of my number and giving me terrible grief so I tell them who the winner is.

"They're begging because they're desperate to get out of the mire.

"People say to me 'I think you should make a lot of money in stocks and shares," but I'm not interested in that."

*Derek Acorah - The Psychic Ether is at Weymouth Pavilion on Saturday May 16 from 7.30pm. Contact the Pavilion for tickets.