Theatre News

Jodie Prenger to star in Fat Friends The Musical premiere

The noughties comedy has been adapted for the stage by Kay Mellor

Jodie Prenger and James Corden in the original TV series
Jodie Prenger and James Corden in the original TV series
© Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage

A musical adaptation of the '00s ITV sitcom Fat Friends will premiere in Leeds in November.

Fat Friends The Musical will be written and directed by the programme's original creator Kay Mellor. It will have original music by Nicholas Lloyd Webber, and star Jodie Prenger, best known for playing Nancy in Oliver!, as Kelly Stevenson.

The comedy was set in a slimming club in Leeds, and starred James Corden, Ruth Jones and Sheridan Smith. The new musical will see the characters put through modern weight loss techniques like Zumba.

Before she appeared in Oliver!, Prenger came second in the 2006 series of The Biggest Loser.

Mellor said: "I always secretly thought there could be a musical using those characters and looking at weight. It’s such a topical subject matter, more so today than ever. Everybody you meet is on some kind of diet or knows someone on a diet."

Tickets go on sale 25 January.

Fat Friends The Musical will run at Leeds Grand Theatre from 7 November until 2 December before embarking on a UK tour.