Things have changed so much for Stephen Daldry since he bounded into Richard Eyre's office at the National Theatre 12 years ago, stating that he simply must direct An Inspector Calls.

With the success of Oscar-nominated Billy Elliot and The Hours now under his belt, it's hard to imagine him banging on doors desperate to be given his first break.

Yet it was An Inspector Calls, which comes to Oxford's Playhouse from June 21, that he cut his teeth on. "I'd done a production of An Inspector Calls in York a few years earlier," he remembers "and had got very interested in JB Priestley. I became really hooked on him and the more I read, the more I realised I wanted to put the play on again, but no theatre wanted me, they just kept turning me down. It was only Richard Eyre, who was then running the National Theatre who let me have a go."

Those theatre managements must be kicking themselves now -- his production at the National exploded on to the stage in 1992, was hailed as a revolutionary piece of theatre, won 19 major awards and has become the longest running play in the company's history -- and Stephen Daldry hasn't done too badly for himself either.

Now working on Billy Elliot -- The Musical, with Elton John, it seems he can do no wrong, yet, he'll never forget his first taste of success which came with An Inspector Calls, which he acknowledges "changed my career totally."

Neither has he lost that energy and vitality and still grins from ear to ear when he remembers what it felt like when the show became such a hit and won so many awards. "It was just fantastic," he beams, "it was so exciting and so much fun. I couldn't believe it was happening. I have a lot to thank Richard Eyre, my great benefactor, for. If it hadn't been for his faith in me, I'd never have got this production on and things might have been very different."

He smiles at the memory of how frustrated he was that no-one would let him direct it. "I had a passion for this play and couldn't understand why none of these theatres wanted me to do it, they said they didn't want the play or me or both!" He was, in his own words "just a little kid of 29 from the tiny Gate Theatre, so I guess I can understand why no-one would have me."

Yet, working alongside his regulator collaborator, designer Ian MacNeil, they created a groundbreaking production that is as potent today as it was 10 years ago.

The reviews for Daldry's production were beyond ecstatic, the audiences were spellbound and the production took on a life of it's own, transferring into the West End, travelling all over the world before returning for another hugely successful run in the West End. Oh, and winning more awards than any other play - not just at the National - but ever in the history of theatre. Not bad for a "rather over-confident" 29 year old director who'd been turned down by so many theatres.

"What I love about the play is how it reinvents itself with time," Daldry adds. And, despite his busy schedule 12 years on - as he flits back and forth across the Atlantic - he still finds time to stay in touch with his production. "I have a huge fondness for it," he says, "but there is something rather odd about watching it now, because I do see it as the work of a 29 year old. I have a terrible tendency to want to fiddle with all my work and have to tell myself to leave it alone; it works as it is.

"What I love about seeing it now is that when it's really working it still sends shivers down my spine and I can feel the same happening to the rest of the audience. I get a real kick out of that."

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KATHERINE MacALISTER