Emmerdale star to join Freddie Flintoff in Fat Friends musical

Emmerdale and The Royal star Natalie Anderson will join the cast of Fat Friends – The Musical.

The actress' previous stage credits include Nessarose in Wicked in the West End, Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet at West Yorkshire Playhouse and Tara in Exposure The Musical at St James’ Theatre.

Written and directed by BAFTA-winner Kay Mellor, with original music from Nicholas Lloyd Webber, Fat Friends will open in November at Leeds Grand Theatre ahead of an extensive UK tour.

Anderson will join a cast which includes former England cricketer Freddie Flintoff who will be making his stage debut.

The other cast members are Jodie Prenger, Kelly Stevenson, Sam Bailey and Elaine C Smith.

Based on the TV show of the same name, the musical is set in a slimming club in Leeds and sees the characters put through modern weight loss techniques.

Fat Friends will open at Leeds Grand Theatre on 7 November.