Jamie's serious love

Not for the first time in his life, Jamie Theakston was being led astray - or rather, in this instance, protectively led by the hand. If the body language was anything to go by, then the Top of the Pops presenter appeared to be the supplicant one as he enjoyed a holiday reunion with his maybe/maybe-not girlfriend, the actress Joely Richardson.

The pictures of the pair on holiday in the South of France this week confirm what the couple's friends have been saying for some time: that Theakston, 32, exhausted and devastated after his calamitous escapade in a Mayfair brothel was revealed just over a year ago, is determined to get his life and, most vitally, his career back on track.

Central to that is his relationship with Richardson, six years his senior and a world away in terms of showbusiness expertise. Even by the quixotic standards of that industry, theirs has always seemed an unusual partnership: she a member of the Redgrave acting aristocracy, he a boy-about-town (albeit an increasingly older one) best known for being a libidinous lad rather than a luvvie.

The couple seemingly split for good two years ago, a short time before the infamous S&M brothel incident. For Theakston - who has dated the likes of actress Anna Friel, model Sophie Dahl and pop star and former All Saint, Natalie Appleton - the split from Richardson has eaten away at him ever since. Emotions aside, the photographs from St Tropez also illustrate more than just a rekindling of a very public love affair. As a close friend of the TV presenter since schooldays says: "This is a conscious reinvention on his part. He wants to move away from being seen as the vacuous kids' TV presenter to being a serious actor.

"He thinks that if he can put himself more on a level with Joely and her family, then their relationship will be more equal. He wanted to do it anyway, but he also wants to do it for her."

Indeed, according to Theakston's friends, he has repeatedly spoken of Richardson in the past few days as "The One" - the woman he might indeed marry.

The TV presenter made the decision to try to get back with Richardson during a skiing holiday in March. Theakston and six male friends - including his new best friend, society artist Jonathan Yeo - travelled to the French resort of Val d'Isere. "He spoke about Joely the whole time," his friend says. "He was determined to get back with her, kept saying that this was going to happen."

One evening, Theakston's party arrived at Dick's Tea Bar, a notorious drinking den in the ski resort. Where once it would have been precisely the kind of raucous place Theakston would have stayed in until the small hours, this time round he was very different. "He had a few drinks, then went and had a quiet, civilised dinner," says his friend, "and he spoke about Joely the whole time - how he was getting serious about her and about acting."

A clue to what binds this couple together comes from something Theakston once said of her: "I love Joely. She's a fantastic person, completely supportive of me in everything I do."

Indeed, friends paint a picture of a man as much in awe as in love. "A cliche, but he was gutted when she dropped him," the friend explains. "Completely gutted. He needs her. He has told her that he is turning over a new leaf, professionally and emotionally."

Her support could not be more crucial now. "He has been in regular contact with Joely since they split," his friend continues. " Professionally, she knows where he wants to be, what he is aspiring to be." If Theakston has decided to get serious professionally, then Richardson, daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and Tony Richardson, is certainly the one to help him.

Where she is more the Bard, Theakston was always more Mr Blobby (his raucous bete noire on Live and Kicking, the BBC kids' show which made his name). What we are seeing is a man in his early thirties, desperate to move on from gags and custard pies - as much, perhaps, for his well-connected girlfriend as for himself.

Rightly or wrongly, there has always seemed something vaguely shallow about Theakston: a good-looking, well-educated boy who played around, on and off the screen. That, really, was it. In fairness, he has done well out of it, but it was hard to see where else it would take him.

It was at the Great Portland Street offices of his agent, Michael Foster (the brilliant impresario who also represents Chris Evans), that the orchestrated move into more mainstream entertainment began in earnest.

As part of a subtle change of image, Theakston posed for a series of moody-actor shots to publicise his role in the West End hit, Art, early last year. That was followed by another stage role in Somerset Maugham's Home and Beauty at The Lyric. It was a start - and one which Richardson, virtually raised on grease paint, could identify with. Better to have a boyfriend treading the boards than reading an Autocue.

Not everything went according to plan, of course. This newspaper described the Maugham production as "ghastly" but did accord Theakston the dubious honour of turning in "the least bad performance".

To follow came minor TV roles, all part of a subtle attempt to recast himself. He played a love interest of Liza Tarbuck's in Linda Green, and played alongside Adam Faith in the star's last appearance in the BBC's Murder In Mind.

Again, there were mixed reviews: his acting was rather witheringly described by one critic as "reasonable".

Alongside his attempts to reinvent-himself, Theakston has convinced Richardson that his days of partying are finally over.

In private, Theakston has led the peripatetic life of a boy with a permanent bottle of Bud in his hand - there didn't seem to be an evening without him lounging on a sofa in the Groucho Club, a retinue of friends and attractive young women around him. That, so it would appear, is all in the past.

Apart from Richardson, friends also say that Theakston's new friendship with Jonathan Yeo, son of Tory MP Tim, is crucial to his reinvention. "He is hanging out with a much older, more mature crowd. He's got more Establishment, more arty."

At the same time, there is no doubting that Theakston has always been a clever and wily practitioner of the celebrity game. His "spoiler" operation, in which he gave an interview to the News of the World before another newspaper-published the brothel story, was hugely successful. In a schizophrenic act on the part of the BBC, Theakston kept his job.

Today, as he holidays with Richardson in Provence - very much the kind of civilised holiday he now enjoys - Theakston knows that he is at a crossroads. His acting career has been bitty, to say the least. (Richardson's, by contrast, has included blockbusters such as 101 Dalmatians.)

He can never match her, and nor would he try. But he could not ask for a better sounding-board, a more influential and experienced introduction to the thespian world.

In the meantime, the couple have been visiting churches in the sundrenched region around Aix-en-Provence. Were they checking out "the set" of a real-life wedding? Is Theakston, once the ultimate bachelor, about to cement their relationship and become a husband?

Now, that's a part he has yet to play.