Gemma Dobson, Rachel Pickup and Jimmy Fairhurst are among the names completing the company of Victoria Wood's dinnerladies, which opens its UK tour at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley in January 2027 and comes back to London at the New Wimbledon Theatre in the spring.
Gemma Dobson, who won Best Actress in a Play at The Stage Debut Awards for Rita, Sue and Bob Too, will play Twinkle in Victoria Wood's dinnerladies, the first stage version of the BBC sitcom. The rest of the company has now been named too, ahead of a UK tour that opens at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley on 22 January 2027.
Rachel Pickup, whose television work includes The Gilded Age, takes the role of Philippa. Jimmy Fairhurst, artistic director of Not Too Tame Theatre Company, plays Tony. Josie Brightwell is Petula, Rachel Marwood is Jane and Faye Weerasinghe is Anita.
They join the four leads: Les Dennis as Stan, the canteen's maintenance man; Sue Cleaver as Jean; Karen Henthorn as Dolly; and Amy Drake, billed as a newcomer, as Bren. Dennis, whose stage credits take in the Royal Shakespeare Company and English National Opera, joined Hairspray at the London Coliseum in 2021. Sarah Dearlove, Alex Frost, Matthew Gordon, Angela Heenan and Tyne Pearson make up the ensemble, and the tour is Pearson's first.
The tour stops twice inside Greater London. After the opening weekend in Bromley on 22-23 January, the production moves on to the Manchester Opera House and does not return to the capital until the spring, with a week at the New Wimbledon Theatre from 27 April to 1 May. Further dates within reach of London follow at G Live in Guildford on 15-19 June and the Hexagon in Reading on 20-24 July, and the run finishes at the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend on 3-7 August.
Sean Foley directs a new stage adaptation by Beth and Emma Kilcoyne. Its story is freshly written but grows out of the television series, which Victoria Wood wrote and starred in and which first went out on BBC One more than 25 years ago, so the whole Manchester canteen is back on duty: Stan, Bren, Tony, Dolly, Jean, Twinkle, Anita and the others. The Victoria Wood Estate is producing, the first time it has staged any of her work itself.
Sue Cleaver, best known as Eileen Grimshaw in Coronation Street, is the company's direct link to the original. “I was honoured to have a regular role on the show itself and to work alongside the legendary Victoria Wood many moons ago so it’s an absolute joy to be returning to play such a fantastic character as feisty Jean!” she said.
The full 2027 itinerary:
- 22-23 January: Churchill Theatre, Bromley
- 26 January - 6 February: Manchester Opera House
- 9-13 February: Venue Cymru, Llandudno
- 16-20 February: Theatre Royal, Bath
- 23-27 February: Grand Opera House, York
- 2-6 March: Birmingham Hippodrome
- 9-13 March: Stockton Globe
- 16-20 March: Milton Keynes Theatre
- 23-27 March: Eastbourne Congress Theatre
- 31 March - 3 April: Blackpool Opera House
- 6-10 April: Cardiff New Theatre
- 13-17 April: Hull New Theatre
- 20-24 April: Theatre Royal, Nottingham
- 27 April - 1 May: New Wimbledon Theatre
- 4-8 May: Regent Theatre, Ipswich
- 11-15 May: Princess Theatre, Torquay
- 18-22 May: Hall for Cornwall, Truro
- 25-29 May: Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre
- 1-5 June: Royal & Derngate, Northampton
- 8-12 June: Regent Theatre, Stoke
- 15-19 June: G Live, Guildford
- 22-26 June: Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
- 29 June - 3 July: Leeds Grand Theatre
- 6-10 July: Wolverhampton Grand Theatre
- 13-17 July: Liverpool Empire
- 20-24 July: Reading Hexagon
- 27-31 July: Sheffield City Hall
- 3-7 August: Southend Cliffs Pavilion
