Theatre News

Drop The Dead Donkey stage adaptation to open on tour

The smash-hit TV series is heading for the stage

Drop the Dead Donkey cast pose against a blue background
The cast of Drop the Dead Donkey, © the production

Three decades after its groundbreaking television debut, the acclaimed series Drop The Dead Donkey is making its stage debut.

Featuring the original cast members including Stephen Tompkinson, Neil Pearson, Susannah Doyle, Robert Duncan, Ingrid Lacey, Jeff Rawle, and Victoria Wicks, this iconic BAFTA and Emmy award-winning comedy is set to embark on a UK tour starting in January 2024, under the direction of Lindsay Posner.

Drop The Dead Donkey: The Reawakening! is penned by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, who created the original hit series. It follows a group of characters from Globelink News in the cutthroat world of modern 24-hour news gathering.

Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin expressed their excitement about reuniting with the original cast, stating: “We’re overjoyed to be working again with the original cast of Drop The Dead Donkey. It’s going to be hugely enjoyable to watch those seven funny, flawed characters from Globelink News being plunged into the cutthroat world of modern 24-hour news gathering and trying to navigate their way through the daily chaos of social media, fake news, and Interim Prime Ministers.”

Produced by Hat Trick and Simon Friend Entertainment, Drop The Dead Donkey: The Reawakening has set designs by Peter McKintosh, with lighting by Peter Mumford. After opening at the Richmond Theatre on 31 January 2024, the show will visit Sheffield, Salford, Cardiff, Cambridge, Brighton, Milton Keynes, Leicester, Bath, Leeds, Birmingham, Nottingham, Bromley, Norwich, Liverpool, Newcastle, Woking and Cheltenham.

Sign up for our newsletters for more