Little Britain Live

In an interview in the show's program, Walliams and Lucas state that they had always wanted Little Britain to be a radio programme, a television series and live stage show.

After production of the third series of the television show, the duo settled down to write and plan the show. In rehearsals, the sketches were tweaked, re-ordered and re-written in order to accommodate the rapid costume and make-up changes required by the principal performers. To remove the need for stagehands to make set and prop changes, an elaborate stage floor was designed with track lines for the props. Sets were projected onto the background of the stage, with computer-animated transitions designed by video and lighting designer Willie Williams.[1]

Certain sketches required elaborate technical mechanisms, such as the vomit machine for the Judy and Maggie "Village Fete" sketch, and oversized props for the Dennis Waterman sketch.

During the show's UK run, several sketches were rewritten to improve the pacing, or removed in cases where the sketch was the same as the television series.

The show's run began at the Portsmouth Guildhall in Portsmouth, Hampshire on 23 October 2005. The show toured for 49 performances in 18 cities: Bournemouth, Southend, Plymouth, Sheffield, Manchester, Nottingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Liverpool, Oxford, Bristol, Ipswich, Birmingham, Blackpool, Brighton and ending in Manchester on 20 December.

Walliams and Lucas took a month off, before resuming the UK tour and returning to the previously-toured cities. A month-long residency at the Hammersmith Apollo in London in October and November 2006 followed, with two shows at the Brixton Academy.[2] There were 3 live shows in Ireland during the summer of 2006, shown at the Point Theatre in Dublin. The show was eventually seen by nearly one million people on its UK tour from November 2005 to December 2006.[3] Little Britain Live toured Australia in early 2007. Initial bookings were made in Sydney, with other cities added as ticket sales soared. Eventually the show sold out six performances in Melbourne and Brisbane, seven in Sydney and Perth, and two in Adelaide. Performances were also held in Canberra, Newcastle and Wollongong.

Festivals and other miscellaneous performances

^A Bulmers International Comedy Festival[11]

Cancellations and rescheduled shows

This is a night of Little Britain Live with celebrity guests such as Kate Moss and Peter Kay. £3 from each DVD sale goes to Comic Relief. A live Little Britain show was made for Comic Relief at the Hammersmith Apollo on 22 November 2006, and featured many guest artists and celebrities. This version was released in March 2007 and televised as part of Comic Relief: The Big One. It was later included as a bonus feature on the Little Britain Abroad DVD.

Guest artists included:

• Kate Moss as Vicky Pollard's twin sister.[14]
• Dawn French as Myfanwy in the Daffyd Thomas sketch.
• Russell Brand as a cross-dressing plumber who comes out to "fellow cross dresser", Emily Howard.
• Jonathan Ross as the celebrity guest that Judy vomits on at the village fête.
• Chris Moyles as an overweight victim of Marjorie's Fat Fighters club.
• Dennis Waterman as himself, complaining about his portrayal in the Dennis Waterman sketch, then proceeds to sing the theme tune to Minder.
• Peter Kay as wheelchair-using Brian Potter.
• David Baddiel as a member of the audience brought onstage.
• Jeremy Edwards as a molested contestant of Des Kaye's "Hide the Sausage" game
• Patsy Kensit as a girl with hairy armpits who went to seek advice from Linda Flint.
• Kate Thornton as the presenter of Stars in Their Eyes, introducing Anne.

• Official Australian Tour Website